Understanding municipal finance

Municipal finance can be disaggregated as follows: Fiscal design asks what taxes and other revenue instruments should we use? Intergovernmental fiscal design asks which of these measures should be used by which tiers or spheres of government? Financial management asks, given the resources at our command how can we manage them efficiently, effectively, and transparently? These issues are all in the context of written and unwritten agreements about what a government should do, and which powers and functions should be exercised by which tier or sphere of government. For that reason, when we talk about municipal finance, it can be helpful to focus on whether the questions we are asking are fiscal design questions, financial management questions, or questions about the powers and functions of government. Some issues touch on all three, but many are located primarily in one of these three areas, we will focus on the relationship between laws, institutions, and municipal finance. Speaker: Matt Glasser