Thoughts on Issues Facing Municipalities

These pieces reflect my thinking on issues that come up repeatedly in local government.

They focus on municipal finance, governance, and civic systems, and on why public decisions often produce outcomes that frustrate both residents and officials. The goal is not to argue for specific solutions, but to explain how these systems work in practice and why they behave the way they do.

Each piece looks at a familiar issue through the lens of structure, timing, and constraints that are rarely visible from the outside.

Why Your Tax Bill Went Up Even Though Nobody Overspent

An explanation of how tax outcomes can change even when budgets stay within legal limits, and why focusing on year-to-year spending misses the larger picture.

Municipal Budgets Are Mostly Pre-Committed

A look at how much of a local budget is effectively decided before the annual process begins, and why that reality reshapes what budget debates can realistically accomplish.

Why Technology Rarely Delivers What People Expect in Local Government

An exploration of why civic technology investments often disappoint, and how process, adoption, and governance shape outcomes more than software alone.

Transparency Without Context Creates Distrust

An examination of why making data public does not automatically build trust, and how municipal accounting and reporting can be misunderstood without explanation.

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