Wealthy Homeowners Are Getting a 45% Discount on Property Taxes

Data from North Carolina points to a nationwide problem: that services may be going unfunded in your community because of flawed processes, sloppy math, and lack of respect for the law in the property tax system.

Transparent Accounting, News, Top StoryJoe MinicozziApril 24, 2023Just Accounting for Health, Transparent Local Accounting, property tax, poverty, Poverty, local finance, public finance, North Carolina

The Largest Mistake of Our Generation

The proposed annual budget for Winnipeg, MB, reveals the true cost of the Suburban Experiment, and the vibrancy that the city (and so many others like it) has sacrificed in many of its neighborhoods.

Transparent Accounting, Top StoryMichel Durand-WoodFebruary 22, 2023Transparent Local Accounting, suburban experiment, canada, Canada, suburban development pattern, Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure maintenance, budget, finance, public finance, Growth Ponzi Scheme, transportation, transportation spending

Your City May Be Illegally Assessing You for Routine Infrastructure Maintenance

Part of having transparent local accounting is ensuring that the people living in a community know and understand the public costs associated with their homes and businesses. Right now, that isn’t the case in most places.

#DotheMath, Infrastructure, Marohn, Finance, Top Story, Transparent AccountingCharles MarohnNovember 28, 2022Transparent Local Accounting, local finance, public finance, maintenance, Maintenance, Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure cost, infrastructure maintenance, financial solvency, #DoTheMath

Main Street vs. Big Box Stores: A Western North Carolina Analysis

Property taxes represent the largest source of revenue for most local governments, and data shows that even unglamorous downtown areas offer more value as taxable properties than big box stores.

Mansion Blight: How the Most Expensive Homes Drain Community Wealth

Mansions on large lots, not rundown properties in low-socioeconomic-status neighborhoods, are the real blight on a community’s financial health.

Can America’s Unfair Property Tax System Ever Be Fixed?

Strong Towns interviews Dr. Christopher Berry, of the University of Chicago, on how we can begin making meaningful changes to the U.S.’s broken property tax system.

“Bias Writ Large” in the Property Tax Assessment System

There are some obvious anomalies that are being overlooked in the property tax assessment system. Joe Minicozzi of Urban3 pulls back the curtain in this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast.

In Buncombe County, NC, Billions of Dollars of Home Value Go Untaxed

As an ad hoc committee recently discovered, owners of higher-valued properties are more likely to receive a tax break…simply because of bad data.

Streets Are for Building Community Wealth. Here’s Why That’s So Important.

Streets can be about many things, but unless they are building wealth for the community, they won’t survive. Period.

Economic Development, Marohn, Roads and Streets, Top StoryCharles MarohnJune 20, 2022finance, local finance, public finance, municipal finance, economic growth, economics, Economy, streets

Your City’s Accounting Is Unnecessarily Obscure. It’s Time To Pull Back the Veil.

We expect city budgets and financial reports to inform citizens and community leaders alike, but in reality, local government accounting is unnecessarily complicated, confusing, and illogical.

Membership, #DotheMath, Finance, Top StoryLinda TwillmanJune 8, 2022memweek strategic plan series, finance, financial solvency, local finance, municipal finance, public finance, local government, #DoTheMath, Transparent Local Accounting

Taking a Magnifying Glass to Property Tax Inequities

What is the real reason behind our striking property tax disparities?

Sheppard, Finance, Top Story, Transparent AccountingSeairra SheppardMarch 8, 2022Just Accounting for Health, Urban3, property tax, Homeownership, homeownership, Assessments, finance, public finance

Corner Liquor Stores vs. Fancy Shopping Malls

Let’s #DoTheMath on some public infrastructure in Providence, RI.

#DotheMath, Top StorySeth ZerenMarch 2, 2022Value Per Acre, #DoTheMath, suburban experiment, Infrastructure, infrastructure, public finance

Truth in Accounting: Making Cities' Finances Transparent for All

Citizens can’t make informed decisions if they don’t know the financial condition of their government. This nonpartisan nonprofit is making those numbers both available and transparent.

Podcast, Marohn, ST Podcast, Finance, Local Government, Top StoryStrong TownsFebruary 14, 2022Podcast, finance, local finance, public finance, municipal finance, nonprofit sector, local government, Municipalism

Holy Leaping Dollars, Batman!

Unless we start making better accounting choices today, we’ll be facing service cuts and tax increases every year going forward. …That is, until the day we can’t anymore.

Dropping Weight is Not Enough: How Making Your Town Stronger is Like Improving Bike Performance

If your city is struggling to balance its budget, it’s not enough to just cut costs and not seek to increase revenues. That’s like a cyclist who tries to improve their performance only by losing weight.

#DotheMath, Strategies, #StrongCitizens, Top StoryMarlene DrukerJuly 16, 2019public finance, budget, incremental growth

Ripple Effects from Pension Shortfalls

The desperate need to fill pension shortfalls may be wreaking havoc on the financial system.

Finance, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnMay 15, 2019macroeconomics, pensions, stock market, public finance

Local Governments’ Alarming Capital Spending Ratios

There are many ways for state and local governments to run hidden deficits, one of which is deferred maintenance. But it turns out there is a way to measure the extent to which local governments kick the maintenance can down the road.

Finance, Top StoryJames BaconOctober 29, 2018public finance, infrastructure maintenance, Growth Ponzi Scheme

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