CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTABLE VERSION OF THIS DOCUMENT (ADOBE PDF)
Municipal Revenues
Sound municipal government requires preservation and enhancement of the existing tax and revenue structure.
The property tax, state-collected local taxes and revenues, and various local option revenue sources are all integral components of a stable, reliable and balanced revenue stream for muni-cipalities. State-collected revenues should be distributed reasonably and equitably, providing local elected officials autonomy to best determine their use. New revenues, including those that may be obtained through local option revenue sources, are essential to meet the future needs of municipal citizens, to provide the infrastructure necessary for vital public services, and to fairly apportion the costs of growth. It is also imperative that any lost or repealed revenues be replaced, retroactively if necessary
.
Municipal Expenditures
Fiscal integrity and sound financial management require flexibility to borrow, invest and expend funds for public purposes.
Cities are challenged to use the funds entrusted to them in the most efficient and responsible manner possible. Flexibility in financing options and expansion of municipal investment authority provide basic tools to help meet that challenge. The capacity to determine the nature and amount of an expenditure, based upon the totality of factors involved within the unique context of each city, is essential to economic efficiency and management. Cities need discretion to fund investments in infrastructure and local improvements such as affordable housing, redevelopment projects, and business and economic incentives.
Mandates
The state and federal governments should not enact burdensome and expensive mandates without adequate local authority, flexibility and additional financial resources for implementation and continuation.
Mandates to perform functions or activities placed upon cities by the state or federal governments, either directly or through agency or administrative action, should be accompanied by funds for their implementation and continuation. Cities should not be required to appropriate funds for particular programs or functions, or to contract with private companies for public services. Management decisions must remain in the sound discretion of the municipal governing body.
Preemption
Municipalities need a broad grant of authority and flexibility to allow elected officials to make decisions that effectively and efficiently meet the ever-expanding needs of their citizens.
Voters elect municipal officials to decide significant issues in the public interest, which varies within the unique context of each municipality. Accordingly, the League stands opposed to legislation preempting municipal authority and to measures designed to otherwise erode local control of significant municipal issues. Municipal grants of authority should be broadly construed to include supplemental powers reasonably necessary to carry out the functions.
Open Government
All levels of government should adhere to principles of responsible open and ethical conduct government and ethical conduct.
The League supports the principle of openness in government and endorses the concept that meetings of governmental bodies should be open to the public. There are reasonable exceptions that should permit closed sessions when such limitations are in the public interest. Public records should also be available to the public with reasonable exceptions for protection of confidentiality that are in the public interest. Elected and appointed officials should adhere to standards of conduct that promote public confidence in our system of governance. Requirements regarding openness, access to records, conflict of interest and ethical conduct should apply across all levels of government to include state, county, and municipal bodies.
Municipal Liability
Fundamental rules pertaining to the liability of governmental entities should apply across all levels of government.
Municipalities continually seek to provide a wide range of services to meet the needs of their citizens in furtherance of the public health, safety, and welfare. Accordingly, the League stands opposed to proposals placing burdensome liability upon municipalities, including measures that seek to erode well-established principles of immunity or other defenses, and to proposals unfairly imposing cost-shifting upon municipal taxpayers.
Municipal Growth
Healthy municipal centers are essential to the economic viability of the state. Municipalities must maintain the ability to expand and provide the higher level of services demanded by the citizens.
Cities and towns are the economic engines of the state and must be permitted to grow in an orderly and reasonable manner that supports the continued economic development of the state. New growth in and around existing municipalities should utilize existing infrastructure for the most efficient use of public revenue. Annexation ensures that all those who benefit from a municipality through use of the infrastructure, municipal amenities, proximity to jobs, commerce, and cultural resources, bear a fair share of the cost of providing those services. The legislature should not permit a new incorporation whose primary purpose is to prevent a proposed annexation without evidence of its ability to provide the necessary services. Municipalities are encouraged to enter into agreements to foster interlocal cooperation and long-range planning.
Municipal Services
Municipalities require adequate authority and flexibility to finance, operate and manage essential services to protect public safety, promote sanitation, health and welfare, and improve the quality
of life.
In order to serve growing urban populations with water, sewer, transportation, police protection, fire protection, solid waste, stormwater, electricity, parks and recreation, public housing, and other services, municipalities need the autonomy to make appropriate management, financial, and operational decisions. With regard to enterprise services, municipalities must be free to determine appropriate rates and service areas, and free to determine when it is appropriate to enter into regional or multi-jurisdictional arrangements. State taxes or fees should not be imposed on municipal enterprise services. Furthermore, the power of eminent domain must be preserved as a means of acquiring property to provide municipal infrastructure, facilities, and services for the public benefit.
Planning and Land Use
Municipal planning authority must be maintained for sound growth, long-range planning and growth management.
Long range municipal planning is an essential aspect of municipal health and economic viability. Vibrant, well-planned cities are the economic engines of the state, attracting new businesses and industries, while providing the quality of life expected by residents in and around municipalities. Public participation and private property rights are key elements of growth management. For this reason, the government closest to the people is the best venue for making land use decisions.
Municipal authority must be maintained and enhanced to allow for more flexibility and options. Necessary tools for planning include the ability to zone, to review and approve buildings and new development, exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction, urban redevelopment, and economic development strategies. Municipalities must have the capability to protect and plan for infrastructure, as well as ensure that the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens are preserved.
Environmental Protection
For municipalities to be successful partners in environmental protection, environmental laws and regulations must be science-based, feasible, and equitable, with flexibility to comply in the most cost-effective manner.
Local governments are partners with state and federal agencies in protecting the environment and quality of life for our citizens, serving as both regulators and members of the regulated community. As regulators, municipalities need adequate authority to set standards, enforce requirements, and perform inspections. The discretion to impose more stringent requirements than the state when necessary to protect public health or the environment must not be impaired, and delegation of any state regulatory programs must be voluntary. The state should continue to provide technical assistance to local governments as well as its share of financial resources for the implementation of environmental programs. In supporting environmental programs, local governments as well as the state should maintain the ability to make reasonable, equitable, and justifiable adjustments in permitting and compliance fees to help recover the costs of regulatory programs.
As members of the regulated community, municipalities must be allowed full participation in the development of new environmental laws and regulations. Environmental laws and regulations should be based on sound science, be technologically and economically feasible, apply equitably to all contributors of pollution, allow the flexibility to attain standards using those practices best suited to the topographical, hydrological, atmospheric, and other characteristics of the jurisdiction and provide incentives that recognize existing environmental programs. The state and federal governments should fully analyze costs associated with environmental requirements before adopting them.
