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Definition
| plan for the aquistion and use of resources |
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Term
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| a process that involves the discussion of what resources to collect and what expenditures to make; concerned with policy decisions related to obtianing and using resources |
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| Public Finance Administration |
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Definition
| a process that is concerned with the provision of relevant info on which to make budgeting decisions, the implementation of such decision, and the handling for the use of public monies |
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| as an evaluation criterion, a measure of whether a policy or program has achieved its intended objectives |
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| as an evaluation criterion, the maximaization of the benefits from the use of a given amount of resources. "the most bang for the buck" |
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| as an evaluation criterion, a judgement about the fairness of an outcome of a policy or program. |
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| relates to people in unequal economic circumstances; therefore it refers to the treatment of individuals with different incomes |
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| relates to people in approximately equivalent economic circumstances |
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| the notion that a cost or consequence of any decision is the rejection of other possibilities; the opportunities given up by making any choice |
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Term
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| reduction in tax revenues attributes to exclusions, exemptions, and deductions from the tax base (or tax obligations), e.g., real estate tax abatements for real property rehabilitation, tax relief for qualified (mean test) elderly or disabled homeowners, homestead exemption. |
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Definition
| the achievement of statutory and constitution provisions allowing municipalities to exercise power self-government (local control) |
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| court ruling limiting the powers of the local gov't to those expressly granted, those implied in or incident to the expressed powers, and those essential to the accomplishment of the declared objects and purposes of the corporation |
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Definition
| state government using its legislative and regulatory powers to require local governments to assume new service responsibilities |
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Term
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Definition
| payments for voluntarily-purchased, publicly-provided goods and services that benefit specific individuals. They are charges imposed for providing current services or for the sale of products in connection with general gov't activities. Current charges include tuition at state colleges and universities, tolls or transportation charges, parks and rec fees, solid waste charges,etc. Impact fees are excluded since they are used to fund capital projects |
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Term
| 5 criteria for the Implementation/Evaluation of a Tax |
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Definition
1. Yield or Productivity (effectiveness)
2. equity of fairness
3. neutrality (not distorting economic decisions)
4. adminstrative ease or efficiency
5. political feasibility |
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Term
| Capital Improvements Programs (CIP) |
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Definition
| a plan for capital expenditures to be incurred each year over a fixed period of several years (usually 5) setting forth each capital project and identifying the expected beginning and ending date for each project, the amount to expended in each year, and the method of paying for those expenditures. |
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Term
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Definition
| the annual appropriation for capital spending that is legally adopted by the legislative body. The capital budget is the first year of the capital improvements program and is the document in which the funds for the capital projects are identified. |
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Term
Issues with Real Property Tax:
Finance Education
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Definition
| * potential discriminatory treatment- if school funding is dependent upon local property taxes, the quality of a child's education would depend on property values in the community. |
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Term
Issues with Real Property Tax:
Tax limitation movement |
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Definition
Help stabalize or reduce taxes:
1. increased productivity
2. greater use of fees
3. shift of some services to the private sector |
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Term
Issues with Real Property Tax:
tax incidence |
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Definition
| refers to who bears the burden, or pays the tax; assumption that burden of the property tax falls disproportionately on lower-income house holds is controversial |
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Term
Issues with Real Property Tax:
exemptions
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Definition
based on property use or status of owner;
PILT- payment in lieu of taxes
homestead exemptions and circuit breakers to relieve presumed regressivity (being unfair) |
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Term
Issues with Real Property Tax:
Homestead |
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Definition
| exemption generally for 1st time buyers |
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Term
Issues with Real Property Tax:
circuit breaker |
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Definition
| provide relief for low income or elderly home owners and for renter who may be overburdened by property taxes |
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Term
Issues with Real Property Tax:
Capitalized value of income |
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Definition
| a change in the property tax may be capitalized and reflected in the property market value |
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Term
Issues with Real Property Tax:
Classification by use |
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Definition
| provisions that classify property and lower the tax for certain property classifications |
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Term
Issues with Real Property Tax:
Site value taxation |
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Definition
| taxing property only on value and not buildings and improvements to encourage development and gain a stram of income on that property. |
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Term
Issues with Real Property Tax:
Tax based sharing |
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Definition
| share in real estate taxes created by new growth in locality and distributing them across a broader spectrum |
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Term
Names types of four primary sources (Revenues):
1. user charges
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Definition
Services whose benefits accrue primarily to those who consume the services
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Term
Names types of four primary sources (Revenues):
2. local taxes |
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Definition
| services whose benefits accrue to the entire local population and individual pricing cannot be applied |
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Term
Names types of four primary sources (Revenues):
3. intergovernmental transfers
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Definition
| functions where substantial spillovers of benefits into neighboring jurisdictions occur |
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Term
Names types of four primary sources (Revenues):
4. borrowing |
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Definition
| long-lived capital investment |
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Term
Names types of three way to examine expenditures:
1. functions |
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Definition
| public safety- police, fire, EMS, public works, education, community development and planning, and recreation |
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Term
Names types of three way to examine expenditures:
2. objects |
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Definition
more detailed break down of functions into categories.
i.e. personnel, salaries, and benefits |
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Term
Names types of three way to examine expenditures:
3. current v. capital |
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Definition
current: expenditures that are expended during the fiscal year, cover cost of operating for one fiscal year.
capital: funded over a period of time; debt service=principle + interest. Largest expenditure is education for most localities |
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Term
The difference between economic efficiency and technical efficiency:
economic efficiency |
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Definition
| economic efficiency- the package of services and taxes should be what the population wants- "preferred" package- must recognize citizens' prefrences |
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Term
The difference between economic efficiency and technical efficiency:
technical efficiency |
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Definition
provision of services at least cost - methods:
a. increase worker productivity
b. improve long-range planning
c. substitute capital for labor
d. reduce interest cost
e. capture economies of scale
f. contract with private organizations
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Term
General Obligation (G.O.) Bonds
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Definition
These securities or debt instruments, are commonly referred to as "full-faith-and-credit" to pay the interest and retire the principal.
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Term
Limited- Liability or "Revenue" Bonds:
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Definition
| Funds to pay interest and principal on these securities come only from restricted revenues or user fees. As a class, these bonds are classified by what they are not. They are not backed by the taxing power. As a result, they are not included int he usual debt limits and often do not require voter approval. |
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Term
Intergovernmental transfers (grants):
What are the two types:
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Definition
Conditional
and
Unconditional |
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Term
Rationale for intergovernmental transfers (grants):
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Definition
*alleviation of external effects- conditional grants
*fiscal equalization- uncondtional grants
*establishment of an efficent and fair system of taxation and revenue sharing - unconditonal grant |
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Term
| Tiebout model ( Theory of public finance) |
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Definition
*moving with your feet
* choosing to buy ahouse in a locality based on goods and services.
*package of goods meets the preference of the customer. |
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Term
The difference between dependent and independent school districts:
Funding for dependent- |
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Definition
| locally raised revenue is appropriated to the school district from the general fund of the corresponding local government; therefore, district must compete with other services for funds. |
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Term
The difference between dependent and independent school districts:
Funding for independent- |
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Definition
| is administratively and fiscally independent of any other government. *most important aspect of it's ability to determine the amount of local revenues to be reaised for education, generally involving a tax or taxes |
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Term
Program to promote more equiable spending:
Foundation programs
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Definition
Ones that est. a state-guaranteed minimum level of expenditure per pupil
+fully funded by state
+partially funded by state with balance from local district based on wealth of local district |
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Term
Program to promote more equiable spending:
Power-equalization programs |
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Definition
Ones that guarantee that each district will have the ability to generate the same revenue per pupil from a given tax reate, regardless of the size of the district's tax base
*two common forms of power-equalization programs
+guaranteed tax base
+guaranteed tax yield |
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Term
Program to promote more equiable spending:
Other forms of state aid- |
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Definition
flat grants - set dollar amount per some measurement unit for each school district in the state, not accounting for variation in fiscal capacities of individual school districts.
percentage equalization- provides that each district receive a certain amount of aid per pupil that is calculated to give relatively more aid to districts with less fiscal capacity |
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Term
Capital Improvements Programs:
Steps in development of CIP - |
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Definition
1. community needs assessment
2. Identification and evaluation of potential capital projects- ( economic impact, social impact, cost-benefit analysis, political considerations, mandates)
3. selection of projects for inculsion in the program
4. approval of the financing for current year projects |
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Term
Capital Improvements Programs:
Funding Options - |
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Definition
*pay as you go
*pay as you use or debt financing
*special assessment districts
*tax increment financing
*lease purchase
*grants
*impact fees and exactions |
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