While larger municipalities with high fixed costs have worsening revenue problems, a tiny Ohio solves its municipal finance problems with traffic tickets.…
Where Will the Stock Market Go in 2017?
Because the experts do not have crystal balls when it comes to stock market predictions, the impact on our pensions can be catastrophic.…
The Reason This Winter Was Not So Bad
NOAA’s high impact snowstorm ranks relate to economic growth through municipal snow removal costs, closed businesses, and the supply chains that halted.…
A Spring Training Dilemma
The battle was between Mesa, Arizona and Naples, Florida. It was the Cactus League vs. the Grapefruit League. Arizona’s homes for the Cactus League: Florida’s homes for the Grapefru…
What We Sacrifice for Pothole Patches
With 150,000 more potholes than last year and $12 for each temporary patch, Chicago has spent close to $3 million on pothole repair and the end is not in sight. NYC was at a record breaking 113,131 on…
The Cost of Conservation
By Madeleine Vance, guest blogger and student at Kent Place School. Saving water is supposed to allow us to cut down costs. For the drought-stricken city of Wichita Falls in Texas, this is not the cas…
Municipal Finance: Technological Innovation
Do cities need more “big data?” NYC’s sewer story provides an answer. NYC had a clogged sewer problem. To solve it, officials had to find the restaurants that were pouring grease dow…
Naming the Weather
BMW had to apologize for bad weather. It all began when their advertising agency decided to buy naming rights to a high-pressure area. Like hurricanes are named alphabetically in the U.S., high- and …
California and Greece
It is good to pay fire fighters and police officers generously. It is good not to raise taxes. It is good to give voters what they want and get re-elected. As Michael Lewis describes in Vanity Fair, S…
Unaffordable Sports Stadiums
The year is 1996. The place is Hamilton County, Ohio. You are standing in a voting booth deciding whether to approve a .5% sales tax increase to help build and maintain 2 new sports stadiums. Although…