Paying for Planning

This book chapter analyzes the structure of governing boards of submunicipal governments by their size, degree of professionalization, and process of election or appointment, in an evaluation of impact on revenues and expenses of the board’s own making. Submunicipal governments are separate from their enabling government and operate with the power to partake in private financial markets with the public purse and outside the realm of political influences. Larger boards statistically make fewer mistakes in revenue and expense, another benefit to a submunicipal government’s ability to isolate financial risk and circumvent state restrictions on local governments.