Local Public Finance

This paper is a part of the research generated for a project on the fiscal impacts of planning, currently being developed by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. The long term goals of this project are to create a network of faculty interested in this topic; increase the exposure of graduate planning students to the practical importance of understanding the fiscal impacts of planning and development; support junior faculty in their development of new courses; provide useful course materials (e.g., articles, case examples, etc.); stimulate research and writing in this area, and extend the training to practicing planners

This paper is also an attempt at contributing towards a broader goal of disseminating information on basic concepts and principles of public finance in general and local public finance in particular. In an attempt to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of public finance, resources used for this paper come from both the academic and practical worlds, including publications of local government bodies in the United States and overseas. The targeted audience for this paper would include students in planning programs, faculty trying to develop courses on local finance and practicing planners.