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RAISING MONEY FOR YOUR ASSETS
How much say do you have in the funding and running of community and civic assets in your town or city? In
countries with a high degree of fiscal (tax) centralization such as the U.K., cuts and closures to local government
community and civic assets are often due to cuts in the national income tax take that is allocated to local
government. If you want to see voters in your community and city having various tax-related mechanisms
through which, if they want, they can support assets, then the United States offers several informative models.
Whilst the U.S. case study cities and states have not entirely escaped austerity measures, they do have a range of
mechanisms that allow them to raise their own tax money for assets. More importantly, these mechanisms are
often voted for by the public, so local taxpayers have to engage with the question of whether they want assets and
whether they want them enough to pay for them.
This section begins by outlining these mechanisms and then proceeds to look at a wider range of additional
funding sources including:
• public sector efficiency drives and use of fees/charges (useful for those who oversee local governmentfunded
community and civic assets);
• donations by the public and fund-raising drives by non-profits (useful for asset supporter groups);
• foundation grants (mainly useful for foundations and the non-profits which apply to them); and
• donations and gifts-in-kind from local businesses (useful for corporate social responsibility managers and
those looking for corporate support with their community and civic assets).
You will see here that, even if local taxpayers were able to finance local assets, there are many benefits from
funding a share of the costs from foundations, business, philanthropy and individual donations.
Your state or city can use a range of tax mechanisms to
sustain assets
State and city governments have typically raised money for assets through some combination of taxes
(Table 3.1). The table outlines specific examples of assets funded or, in a few cases, to the types of assets that
receive support. One of the striking aspects of the menu is the extent to which they often involve voter approval.
This is important because it gives individuals a mechanism to give to assets, and because the debates that
accompany such votes raise awareness about assets. 32 The ability to use different types of taxes does of course also
lessen the reliance upon any one type.
32
The property tax for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is not voted on but elections to the board itself are vigorously contested, so the exact size of the levy
(over which the board has some leeway) remains in the public eye.
67 | The New Barn-Raising