The City Café

A quick diversion from city issues…but just thought this post on the Reason blog was too interesting.  A few countries have decided to ban YouTube for a variety of reasons. For example, Morocco, Turkey, Brazil, Iran, China, have all banned or recently considered banning YouTube.  Where do these countries get their comic relief without YouTube?
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Utah’s property tax burden still ranks as one of the lowest rates in the nation. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau finance numbers and the Utah Foundation analysis property tax is the least burdensome tax Utahns pay. A couple of findings to note from the Utah Foundation study (which is consistent with previous years):

• Utah’s income tax burden ranks 17th nationally (2004-05)
• Utah’s sales tax burden ranks 13th nationally (2004-05)
• Utah’s property tax burden ranks 37th nationally (2004-05)
• Utah’s property tax burden ranks as the third lowest of the 11 western states.

For more information you can access the Utah Foundation research brief or listen to Steve Kroes on KCPW here.

Are we becoming a world of walls dividing our neighborhoods and countries? What are the consequences of creating these physical boundaries? I found this article on Reuters interesting: Around the globe, walls spring up to divide neighbors. In my opinion, I have some concerns about these physical walls dividing populations…but my concerns are not limited to just these international examples. What about gated communities and PUDs in our own neighborhoods?

What happens when a city owes $6.2 million to a wastewater treatment company and only has a $300,000 reserve? Ask the city of McCall in Idaho. The options are pretty grim for this small Idaho resort town:

• Take out a loan — challenge: can’t get a loan quickly enough
• Double property taxes — challenge: state law caps property tax increase at 3%
• Sell off city property — challenge: may be illegal and requires public approval
• Raise sewer rates — challenge: Idaho supreme court has ruled rate increase
• Declare bankruptcy — challenge: the debt will still be owed.

It will be interesting to see how this unfolds. You can read the Idaho Statesman article here: Residents Balk at Tax Hike for McCall debt

My office spring cleaning is beginning by changing my blog. I’ve had my old blog for 7 or 8 months and I’m tired of the title and the format…so I’m turning over a new leaf and turning to word press. The name of the new blog is The City Cafe. What does that mean? I’m not really sure…but it allowed me to incorporate a photo I like into the header. So The City Cafe will remain a blog that discusses all things related to cities, with a focus to local government fiscal policy. I kind of envisioned a 21st Century on-line gathering similar to the local café on main street in my hometown…I look forward to your comments.

For local governments May is budget season. A number of cities are presenting their budgets for the 2007-08 fiscal year (Mayor Billings’ presents Provo’s budget on a bus tour of the city). I’m sure you’ll see a lot more news stories about city budgets as they are debated and finalized.

Today on KCPW’s Midday Metro show Bill Anderson (South Salt Lake City Councilmember), Gary Hill (Park City budget officer), and myself discussed the state of local government finance with KCPW host Bryann Schott. If you are interested in the 20 minute podcast check here: KCPW discussion May 14th 2007.

Excellent column in the The Spectrum this weekend written by Steve Kiggins, Cedar City Bureau Chief. I keep telling people that local government finance really is an interesting issue that people should pay more attention to…sounds like Steve agrees. One quote from his column, “In the past 21 months, I’ve learned more about the world around me than I did in all my years as a sports reporter. That’s because I’ve covered city council meetings, interviewed state, county and city leaders, studied subjects such as health care, taxes and education, opened my eyes to the issues and challenges around me….If you don’t pay attention to city government, I urge you to start.”

You can read the full column here.

On another note…how about those Jazz? Western Conference Finals here we come (am I jumping the gun?).