This paper develops new measures of non-school revenue capacity and environmental costs for Massachusetts cities and towns as the basis for a new municipal aid formula. On the capacity side, we account for the constraints of a tax limitation by estimating them as a function of residents'...

This paper develops new measures of environmental costs and local revenue capacity as the basis for a new municipal aid formula in Massachusetts. On the cost side, unlike previous studies, we quantify the effects on local non‐school spending of characteristics related to uncontrollable costs....

This policy brief summarizes a 2006 working paper by the Research Department at the Boston Fed and the Center: Measuring Disparities in Non-School Costs and Revenue Capacity among Massachusetts Cities and Towns. The paper develops new measures of environmental costs and local revenue capacity as...

This paper designs a new equalization‐aid formula based on fiscal gaps of local communities. Using conceptual analysis and simulations with Massachusetts data, the authors illustrate the tradeoffs that policymakers face in deciding on the policy variables in the formula and lay out several...

This paper develops new measures of environmental costs and local revenue capacity (that is, the ability of local governments to raise revenue), in order to form the basis of a new general-purpose aid formula for Massachusetts cities and towns. On the cost side, unlike previous studies, our...

This paper designs a new equalization-aid formula based on fiscal gaps of local communities. When states are in transition to a new local aid formula, the issue of whether and how to hold existing aid harmless poses a challenge. The authors show that some previous studies and the formulas...

This paper designs a new equalization-aid formula based on fiscal gaps of local communities. Using conceptual analysis and simulations with Massachusetts data, the authors illustrate the tradeoffs that policymakers face in deciding on the policy variables in the formula and lay out several...

Using a cost-capacity gap framework, this paper is the first study to quantify nonschool fiscal disparities across Connecticut municipalities. In the absence of a Uniform Chart of Accounts for municipalities, the paper uses a newly assembled dataset of multi-year local financial records,...