Urban growth and decline, budgetary incrementalism, and municipal finances: Milwaukee, 1870–1977

Abstract

This article explores the way a city's cycle of growth and decline affects its expenditures and alters its underlying budget. Using Milwaukee as a case study, we find that in the growth phase of a city's development cycle the level of a city's debt influences expenditures because of large debt servicing costs on major capital improvements. In the decline phase, expenditures are reduced and the tax rate on property increases because the real property tax base declines.