This Tuesday, voters in Los Angeles head to the polls to pick a new mayor. And last Friday, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder announced his decision to appoint a manager with far-reaching powers over Detroit’s finances. It’s as good a time as any to consider the impact that mayors can actually have on city spending—and the limits of that influence. That’s what I do in a post over at Wonkblog. There might not be a Republican or Democratic way to pick up the trash, but mayors do have a pronounced influence on public safety, an area on which their authority is relatively uncontested.
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Consolidation. I am surprised there is not more advocacy in support of consolidating infrastructure within a city and their schools. My home town of about 100,000 has a city budget of about $100m. They have full scale admin department managing tax collection and expenses. The school board runs a budget of over $200m. They have same admin function covering tax collection and payable. The school board has its own taxing authority over and above what the mayor or city counsel dictates. They are their own city within a city. It is obvious that if departs are merged that loss of jobs may result, but think of the long term positive impact of ensuring best of class expense management that may result in more money getting to the kids or police departments and not caught in the middle playing politics. Cities do not have a federal govt credit card.
It’s a fascinating topic. One starting place is the work of Christopher Berry:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2008.00344.x/abstract;jsessionid=84607FFC4DF2D4B154BFF5DDC36BFB51.d02t01?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false