MUNICIPAL FINANCE PROBLEMS OF THE CITY OF GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA-AN ANALYSIS OF THEIR NATURE, TRENDS, AND PROSPECTS*

Abstract

THE CHIEF PURPOSE of this analysis was to examine the expenditure and revenue behavior and, in lesser degree, the debt behavior of one city, Glendale, California, in order to compare it with the larger patterns of American municipal finance behavior. The analyst reviewed the expenditures, revenues, and debt payments of the city over a period of years ranging from five to twenty. Questionnaire material, largely furnished by the City Controller's Office, provided the core of raw data. Interpretation was guided by the opinions of public administrators interviewed and authoritative writers. Expenditures, revenues, and debts of the Glendale Unified School District were analyzed briefly and appended. All city finance trends were examined against the economic characteristics of the city. The standards of municipal services demanded by Glendale's citizenry are relatively high and there is little evidence to suggest the desirability or likelihood of any immediate diminution in such standards. The expenditures for maintaining those standards have been rising recently. Numerous causes have contributed to the rise in this city's expenditures: (1) growth of population requiring services, (2) rise in costs of personnel, materials, and equipment, (3) rise in costs of more intensive land use, (4) resumption of postponed construction and building programs. The provision of municipal services in Glendale tends to be a process with increasing unit cost character. Glendale's property tax does not furnish as great a proportion of total municipal revenue as it did twenty years ago, but it is still the most substantial single source of city income and is characterized by relatively high yields and relatively assured general stability. The property tax in Glendale, despite all criticisms and despite acknowledged weaknesses, has proved its worth as a tested fiscal instrument conducive to good budgeting and effective planning.