Economic stress, by driving down property values, has threatened one of the main sources of revenue for Northeast Ohio’s local governments. Incomes are recovering only slowly from the effects of the recession. At the same time, the 2014-15 state budget reduced state aid to more than $1 billion below the 2010-11 figure; repeal of the estate tax cut revenues by at least $300 million per year; and compensation for other local taxes that the legislature eliminated over the last decade is dwindling.
Meanwhile, there are spending caps at the federal level, and recent shifts in national and state legislatures likely mean there will be little help from federal and state policies.
David Miller, associate professor in the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences and president of the South Euclid City Council, will present “Local Government in an Age of Austerity” at the next Public Affairs Discussion Group on Friday, Nov. 21, 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Dampeer Room of the Kelvin Smith Library.
The discussion will consider how local governments cope with the budgetary news, and what the consequences are for the services they provide.
Since 1989, faculty, emeriti, students and staff have gathered on Fridays for a brown-bag lunch and to discuss topics in public affairs.
For updates and more information about the Friday lunch schedule, visit fridaylunch.case.edu.