Moving toward solutions Regional government as a check?

What would regional control mean? Sharing of tax base. Metro-wide income, sales or property tax fund, redistributed to cities. “win-win” annexation. sharing of local public goods delivery. Regional unified health, (or parks) district.

The Tiebout hypothesis says decentralization is good. people can “vote with their feet” communities provide a package of public goods and a tax “price” there exists an equilibrium among communities people who desire low expenditure and low tax jurisdictions can get them.

Critique of the Tiebout hypothesis Proponents say that regional government overrides the choice options for people, implied by the Tiebout hypothesis. But the model assumes that all people are equally mobile in space. Not true according to Rusk and Wilson. The poor and minorities are concentrated in cities.

Delivery of public goods Efficiency says goods should be provided at a level where economies of scale can occur. # EMS runs Long run avg. cost

What is the optimal scale for public goods? Fire service? Police protection? Schools? School vouchers? Income redistribution? must be national or out-migration Elasticity and the school tax base

TDRs – controlling sprawl Transferable Development Rights Development rights can be separated from a parcel of land and sold or donated to another person or legal entity. to permit more intensive development on another property. TDRs are building rights that can be transferred from one property to another.

How Do TDRs Work? Under his locality's zoning law, Farmer Jones can build 10 houses on his 100-acre farm. But if there is a TDR program, instead of selling his farm for development, he can sell those 10 building rights separately. The rights are purchased by Developer Smith who would like to build more homes on his land than zoning will currently allow. Once Developer Smith buys the rights, he can build the extra homes, as long as other restrictions are observed. Farmer Jones still owns his farm, and can sell it, thereby realizing the full market value of his property. The Farmer Jones property can be used for agriculture and forestry, but residential development cannot legally occur.

More on TDRs A local government designates a "sending area" and a "receiving area." The sending area is generally a rural region from which development rights will be "sent away," and the receiving area is an already urbanizing region or development district where those development rights are received or used. Government may extinguish the development rights, bank them, or transfer them to support preferred development patterns