Finances of Municipal and Township
Governments: 2002 Issued April 2005
GC02(4)-4
2002 Census of Governments Volume 4, Number 4, Government Finances
U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration U.S. CENSUS BUREAU ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The staff of the Governments Division’s Carma Hogue of the Economic Statistical Recurring Programs Area, headed by Methods and Programming Division, Henry S. Wulf, is responsible for the Howard Hogan, Chief, supplied advice preparation of this report. David and assistance in statistical methodolo- Kellerman, Stephen Poyta, Joseph gies. Bruzzese, William Kehm, and John The U.S. Census Bureau offers special Kennedy supervised the data collection thanks for the cooperation and assistance and editing activities. Donna A. Hirsch of the thousands of state and local govern- coordinated publication preparation activi- ment officials in providing information for ties. Robert M. Johnson, Deborah J. this report. Loreto-Domer, Kristen Emerson, Craig Langley, and Ralph Wood prepared For information regarding data in this tables, reviewed data tabulations, and report, contact the Chief, Governments evaluated final publication copy. John Division, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, Curry and Kheang Hang performed data DC 20233-6800 or phone toll free processing operations. 1-800-242-2184. The Systems Support Division provided the table composition system. Robert Joseph Brown, Table Image Processing System (TIPS) Senior Software Engineer, was responsible for the design and develop- ment of the TIPS, under the supervision of Robert J. Bateman, Assistant Division Chief for Information Systems.
Margaret A. Smith, Meshel L. Butler, and Corey T. Beasley of the Administra- tive and Customer Services Division, Walter C. Odom, Chief, provided publica- tions and printing management, graphics design and composition, and editorial review for print and electronic media. Gen- eral direction and production management were provided by James R. Clark, Assis- tant Chief, and Susan L. Rappa, Chief, Publications Services Branch. Finances of Municipal and Township
Governments: 2002 Issued April 2005
GC02(4)-4
2002 Census of Governments Volume 4, Number 4, Government Finances
U.S. Department of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez, Secretary Theodore W. Kassinger, Deputy Secretary
Economics and Statistics Administration Kathleen B. Cooper, Under Secretary for Economic Affairs
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU Charles Louis Kincannon, Director SUGGESTED CITATION
U.S. Census Bureau, 2002 Census of Governments, Volume 4, Number 4, Finances of Municipal and Township Governments: 2002 GC02(4)-4, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 2002.
ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS ADMINISTRATION
Economics and Statistics Administration Kathleen B. Cooper, Under Secretary for Economic Affairs
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU Charles Louis Kincannon, Director Hermann Habermann, Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer
Thomas L. Mesenbourg, Acting Associate Director for Economic Programs Thomas L. Mesenbourg, Assistant Director for Economic Programs Stephanie H. Brown, Chief, Governments Division CONTENTS
Introduction ...... v
Tables 1. National Summary of Municipal Government Finances: 2001-02, 1996-97, and 1991-92...... 1 2. Summary of Municipal Government Finances by State: 2001-02 ... 3 3. Revenue of Municipal Governments by Source and State: 2001-02 .. 4 4. General Revenue of Municipal Governments From Current Charges by Function and State: 2001-02 ...... 8 5. Percent Distribution of Municipal Government Revenue by Source and State: 2001-02...... 10 6. Expenditure of Municipal Governments by Function and Character and Object: 2001-02 ...... 11 7. Expenditure of Municipal Governments by Character and Object and State: 2001-02 ...... 12 8. Expenditure of Municipal Governments by Function and State: 2001-02 ...... 14 9. Percent Distribution of Expenditure of Municipal Governments by Function and State: 2001-02 ...... 19 10. Indebtedness and Debt Transactions of Municipal Governments by State: 2001-02 ...... 21 11. Cash and Security Holdings of Municipal Governments by State: 2001-02 ...... 22 12. Finances of Municipally Operated Utilities and Liquor Stores by State: 2001-02 ...... 23 13. Municipal Government Finances for Population-Size Groups of Municipalities by State: 2001-02 ...... 27 14. National Summary of Township Government Finances: 2001-02, 1996-97, and 1991-92...... 144 15. Finances of Township Governments in the Northeast Region by State: 2001-02 ...... 146 16. Northeast Township Government Finances for Population-Size Groups of Townships by State: 2001-02 ...... 148 17. North Central Township Government Finances by State: 2001-02... 171 18. Finances of Individual Municipal Governments With a Population of 25,000 or More by State: 2001-02 ...... 174 19. Finances of Individual Northeast Township Governments With a Population of 25,000 or More by State: 2001-02 ...... 212
APPENDIXES
A. Definitions of Selected Terms ...... A–1 B. County-Type Areas Without County Governments ...... B–1 Publication Program Inside back cover
Governments—Government Finances iii Introduction
A census of governments is taken at 5-year intervals as Tables 18 and 19 display data for individual municipal and required by law under Title 13, United States Code, Sec- Northeast township governments, respectively. There are tion 161. This 2002 census, similar to those taken since 1,248 municipal and 207 northeast township govern- 1957, covers three major subject fields—government ments shown. organization, public employment, and government finances. SCOPE Volume 4, Government Finances, contains six parts that encompass the entire range of state and local government Definition of Municipal Government financial activity in fiscal year 2001-02. They are: No. 1, Public Education Finances; No. 2, Finances of Special Dis- As defined for census statistics on governments, the term trict Governments; No. 3, Finances of County Govern- ‘‘municipal governments’’ refers to political subdivisions ments; No. 4, Finances of Municipal and Township Govern- within which a municipal corporation has been established ments; No. 5, Compendium of Government Finances; and to provide general local government for a specific popula- No. 6, Employee Retirement Systems of State and Local tion concentration in a defined area, and includes all Governments. active government units officially designated as cities, bor- This report, No. 4, provides statistics on the revenue, oughs (except in Alaska), towns (except in the six New expenditure, debt, and financial assets of municipal and England states, and in Minnesota, New York, and Wiscon- township governments. It aggregates these data for the sin) and villages. This concept corresponds generally to nation, for state areas, and for the largest individual the ‘‘incorporated places’’ that are recognized in Census municipal and northeast township governments. Bureau reporting of population and housing statistics, sub- ject to an important qualification—the count of municipal ORGANIZATION OF THIS REPORT governments in this report excludes places that are cur- This introductory text describes the scope of the Census rently governmentally inactive. Bureau’s municipal and township government finance data collection activities. It also explains the intricacies of the The number of municipal governments per state varies types of data and notes the limitations of the data as well widely. Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Texas each has more as their relationship to data in other reports. The tabular than 1,000, while at the other extreme, there are eight section comes next and contains 19 tables, divided states with fewer than 50 municipal governments roughly into three parts: Tables 1-13 concentrate on sum- each—Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, maries for municipalities, Tables 14-17 on summaries for Nevada, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Six townships, and Tables 18 and 19 on individual govern- of these eight states are in New England where a town ments. Table 1 displays national totals of municipal gov- government often provides urban services provided by ernment finances for 2002 and other census years. State- municipal governments in other states. wide aggregates for municipalities appear in Tables 2 In the United States, nearly 175 million people live in areas through 13. Table 2 contains the state summaries. Rev- with municipal governments, and about 76 million of enue data appear in Tables 3, 4, and 5, and expenditure these municipal residents live in cities of at least 100,000 information in Tables 6 through 9. Table 10 presents data population. Slightly less than one-half of all municipalities on indebtedness, Table 11 on cash and security holdings, have fewer than 1,000 inhabitants. However, these small and Table 12 on utilities and liquor stores. In Table 13 municipalities account for only 2.2 percent of the total detailed state summaries are divided into population-size population served by municipal governments. The number groups of municipal governments. of municipal governments in each state, by population The township financial summary in Table 14 contains size group, appears in Table 13. information for 2002 and other census years. Tables 15 and 16 concentrate on data for townships in the Northeast Definition of Township Government region with the former displaying the data by state and the latter by population size-group within each state. The term ‘‘town or township governments’’ is applied to Table 17 summarizes the North Central region township 16,504 organized governments located in the following data by state. 20 states in the northeast and the midwest:
Governments—Government Finances Introduction v
U.S. Census Bureau Connecticut Minnesota Ohio served also by town or township governments. In the Illinois Missouri Pennsylvania remaining 9 of the 20 town or township states (Maine, Indiana Nebraska Rhode Island Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Kansas New Hampshire South Dakota Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Maine New Jersey Vermont Wisconsin), there is no geographic overlapping of these Massachusetts New York Wisconsin two kinds of units. Michigan North Dakota Within this report, the geographic reference to Northeast This category includes governmental units officially desig- region townships includes the six New England states nated as ‘‘towns’’ in the six New England states, New York, (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin and some ‘‘plantations’’ in Maine and ‘‘loca- Rhode Island, Vermont) and three Middle Atlantic states tions’’ in New Hampshire, as well as townships in other (New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania). The 11 states areas. In Minnesota, the terms ‘‘town’’ and ‘‘township’’ are included in the North Central Region are: Illinois, Indiana, used interchangeably with regard to township govern- Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North ments. Although towns in the six New England states and Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. New York, and townships in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are legally termed ‘‘municipal corporations,’’ they perform BASIC CONCEPTS municipal-type functions, and frequently serve densely populated urban areas, they have no necessary relation to This report uses a number of terms that, in other con- concentration of population, and are thus counted for cen- texts, might have different meanings. Further, some of the sus purposes as town or township governments. tabular presentations contain concepts that are not com- monly used or easily understood. If the following—which Excluded from this count of town or township govern- is a limited attempt to explain some of these terms and ments are unorganized township areas, townships coex- ideas—does not provide sufficient information, please tensive with cities where the city governments have write to the Chief, Governments Division, U.S. Census absorbed the township functions, and townships known Bureau. to have ceased performing governmental functions. Also excluded are the townships in Iowa, which are not Current Dollars counted as separate governments, but are classified as The statistics in this report, as in the others issued by the subordinate agencies of county governments. Census Bureau on federal, state, and local government Of the 16,504 town or township governments in the finances, are in terms of current dollar amounts. They United States, only 1,179 (7.1 percent) had as many as have not been adjusted for price and wage changes occur- 10,000 inhabitants in 2000 and 52 percent of all towns or ring through the years. townships had fewer than 1,000 inhabitants. Fiscal Years Only one state, Indiana, has township governments cover- ing all its area and population. In five states (Massachu- Data in this report pertain to muncipal and township gov- setts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wiscon- ernment fiscal years that ended between July 1, 2001, and sin), operating towns or townships comprise all territory June 30, 2002, with one exception. Data for Washington, other than that served by municipalities. The same is true DC are for fiscal period ending September 30, 2002. for Maine and New Hampshire, except for ‘‘unorganized Tables 18 and 19 indicate the fiscal period being reported territory’’ which lacks any local government. Of the for each municipal and northeast township government remaining 12 town or township states, there are 10 where with a population of 25,000 or more. this type of government occurs only in certain county or About three-fourths of all municipal governments in the county-type geographic areas as of early 2002: Illinois, in nation has a fiscal year ending in either December (40 per- 85 of the 102 county-type areas; Kansas, in 95 of 105; cent) or June (33 percent). September and April were the Minnesota, in 85 of 87; Missouri, in 22 of 115; Nebraska, next most common months in which municipal govern- in 27 of 93; North Dakota, in 48 of 53; Pennsylvania, in 66 ments ended their fiscal years. Two-thirds of all townships of 67; South Dakota, in 52 of 66; and Wisconsin, 71 of 72. had a fiscal year corresponding directly with calendar year In New York, town governments exist in each county out- 2001—i.e., they ended their fiscal year on December 31, side New York City. 2001. March, February, and June had the next most com- The area served by municipal and town or township gov- mon fiscal year ending dates for townships. ernments may overlap in 11 states. All municipal govern- Composition of Financial Amounts ments in Indiana, and some, but not all, municipalities in 10 other town or township states (Connecticut, Illinois, Revenues and expenditures comprise actual receipt and Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New payments of a government and its agencies (net of cor- York, Ohio, and Vermont) operate within territory that is recting transactions and recoveries or refunds), including vi Introduction Governments—Government Finances
U.S. Census Bureau government operated enterprises, utilities, and public Taxes consist of compulsory contributions exacted by trust funds. Transactions excluded as revenue or expendi- governments for public purposes. Normally this is the ture are: debt issuance and retirement; loans and invest- single largest revenue source for municipal and township ments; agency and private trust transactions; and internal governments. transfers between funds of a government. Aggregates for Charges and miscellaneous general revenue comprise all municipal governments exclude intergovernmental trans- nontax revenue of governments from their own sources actions between those municipal governments and, simi- (excluding amounts received from other governments). larly, aggregates for township governments exclude pay- Most of this revenue is from charges for current services ments between those township governments. and sale of products in connection with general govern- ment activities. Such amounts are designated as current Government Financial Sectors charges and are reported on a gross basis, without offset Municipal and township government financial data are pre- for the cost of producing or buying the commodities or sented within broad activity sectors, including general services sold. Utility service charges are excluded here government, utilities, liquor stores, and insurance trust and reported under utility revenue. activities. General government includes all government Utility revenue and liquor stores revenue comprise revenue and expenditure except activities defined as utili- amounts from sales of goods and services by such under- ties, liquor stores, and insurance trust transactions. Other takings. These are the most common type of enterprise commercial-type operations of municipal or township gov- activities in municipal and township governments. ernments, such as port facilities, airports, toll highways, and housing projects are part of the general government Insurance trust revenue encompasses only: (1) retirement sector. Utilities are water supply systems, electric power contributions received from insured individuals and their systems, gas supply systems, and transit facilities owned employers; and (2) earnings on investment assets of and operated by governments. Liquor stores consist of retirement system trust funds. dispensaries operated by certain municipal governments Employer contributions and other transfers made by only in Alaska, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Dakota, administering governments to their insurance trust funds and Wisconsin. There are no townships involved in this are treated as intragovernmental transactions rather than activity. Insurance trust activities consist of contributory governmental revenue or expenditure. However, to the retirement systems for public employees. extent that particular governments make payments as employers to insurance trust systems administered by Revenue Concepts other governments—for example, employer contributions As noted above, revenue is reported net of recoveries and by state and local governments to the federal Social Secu- correcting transactions and excludes amounts from debt rity System (OASDHI) or municipal government payments issuance, internal transfers, and private trust transactions. to county-administered retirement systems—such The following examples illustrate some applications of amounts are included, without special treatment, in the this summary definition: ‘‘revenue from contributions’’ of the various systems affected. 1. Tax revenue is reported in terms of gross collections minus tax refunds during the same period. Expenditure Concepts 2. Receipts from issuance of debt, recoupment of previ- The expenditure reporting categories comprise all ous loans, and sale of securities are not counted as amounts of money paid by a government and its agencies, revenue. with the exceptions of: amounts of debt retirement; and loan, investment, agency, and private trust transactions. 3. Property tax amounts, widely collected by county gov- Included as expenditures, therefore, are outlays of ernments acting as an agent of other governments, business-type government corporations and agencies. are counted only as revenue of the final recipient Transactions not considered as expenditures include pay- units. ments to the federal government of monies withheld for 4. Municipal and township governments act as agents of income tax or social security purposes. the federal government in withholding federal income The commonly used character and object (or use) catego- and social security taxes from their employees’ pay; ries this finance series employs are: intergovernmental such amounts are excluded from municipal and town- expenditure, current operation, capital outlay, assistance ship revenue and expenditure, but are reported as fed- and subsidies, interest on debt, insurance benefits and eral revenue. repayments, and salaries and wages. 5. Figures in this report include the gross transactions of The major portion of municipal intergovernmental expen- business-type government corporations and agencies ditures in national totals goes for transit subsidies, public such as airports and utilities. welfare, sanitation, and education. However, payments by
Governments—Government Finances Introduction vii
U.S. Census Bureau municipalities in New York to the state government have a public welfare, hospitals, health, social insurance adminis- large influence in these United States summaries. The out- tration, and veterans’ services not elsewhere classified. lays by municipalities just to other local governments Transportation includes highways, airports, parking facili- show that sewerage, transit subsidies, education, and ties, and water transport and terminals. This report does policy protection are the leading functions. not provide totals for these larger categories because they are meant only as presentational guidelines. In townships, education accounts for about three-fifths of all intergovernmental expenditures. Other significant inter- Note that the functions cannot be equated specifically governmental expenditures by townships are for high- with a single federal or state government program. ways, sewerage, and transit subsidies. Instead they represent broader activities of government that have remained virtually unchanged over many years Governmental expenditure for capital outlay is financed so that as specific programs expand and contract they will commonly by borrowing, especially for local governments, remain useful for analytical purposes. Medicaid, for but governmental revenue does not include receipts from example, is a well-known program that is included in the borrowing. This, among other things, means that the rela- larger public welfare function, specifically as a medical tionship between totals of revenue and expenditure, as vendor payment, along with all other social welfare activi- shown in this report, should not be considered a direct ties. measure of budgetary ‘‘balance.’’ These functions, in addition, have utility beyond the limits In addition to payments for goods, services, and capital of this specific report or other Volume 4 publications on items, total governmental expenditure includes payments government finances. Other phases of the census of gov- for which no services or products are directly received in ernments, including the organization and employment, return. A major portion of such payments comprise items use these same functions, making cross-analyses feasible. reported here as assistance and subsidies. These amounts include only cash grants and not gifts of supplies, materi- Each functional expenditure includes amounts for all types als, or other grants-in-kind. The cost of items to be distrib- of activities relating to that purpose. For example, police uted in kind is included in current operation expenditure protection includes not only police officers but also any as purchases of goods and services. ancillary services, such as finance, personnel, or secre- tarial, that directly support that activity. However, central- Insurance benefit and repayment amounts are limited to ized county government accounting, budgeting, purchas- actual payments to insured persons and beneficiaries. ing, personnel, and other general staff services are These amounts, therefore, exclude as internal transfers included in functional categories under the heading gen- contributions by governments to insurance trust funds eral governmental administration. they administer and costs of administering insurance trust programs (which are classified as general expenditure). Understanding the specific functional categories requires close attention to the definitions in Appendix A. The fol- Payments for salaries and wages consist of gross amounts lowing discussion supplements, but does not supplant, paid to government employees before deductions for that basic information. income tax, retirement contributions, charges for quarters or subsistence, or other purposes. They comprise only Education cash payments and exclude the value of subsistence, quar- ters, or other payments-in-kind. Note that the salary and The provision of this service at the elementary-secondary wage amounts were mainly for current operations, but level is intermittent among both municipal and township also included payments for construction work performed governments. The municipally operated dependent school on a force-account rather than contract basis. systems, for example, existed in only 11 states and the District of Columbia. Among townships, the elementary- Detailed statistics on municipal and township employment secondary dependent school systems are located in only and payrolls as of March 2002 appear in the 2002 Census four New England states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachu- of Governments, Volume 3, No. 1, Employment of Major setts, and Rhode Island. In other instances, however, the Local Governments, and No. 2, Compendium of Public municipal or township governments do have an Employment. The primary difference between the finance elementary-secondary education role, but it is often lim- and employment information is that the information in ited to financial support of this activity by another govern- this volume is for an annual period while the data in Vol- ment. Some municipal governments also operate colleges, ume 3 are for 1 month. junior colleges, and other schools beyond the high school level that are included in the education expenditures. In presenting expenditures by function, this report attempts to show a more comprehensive picture by group- Education expenditure include all outlays other than for ing related activities into broader classifications. For interest (reported under interest on general debt) and example, social services and income maintenance includes retirement benefits paid to former education employees viii Introduction Governments—Government Finances
U.S. Census Bureau (reported under employee-retirement expenditure of the Utilities and Liquor Stores appropriate government). At the elementary-secondary education level, this encompasses gross school system Utility expenditure and liquor stores expenditure comprise expenditure for the school lunch program and other caf- all spending involved in provision and conduct of such eteria operations as well as school health, recreation, and undertakings. Specifically, that is the acquisition of facili- library services administered by school systems. Similarly ties, current operation (including the purchase of goods in higher education, the expenditures include gross and services for resale), and interest on utility debt. amounts for auxiliary activities such as dormitories, dining halls, and bookstores operated by municipally run institu- Insurance Trusts tions of higher education. Only insurance benefits and repayments of contributions from insurance funds comprise insurance trust expendi- Public Welfare ture. Costs of administering insurance trust activities are This activity includes institutional and noninstitutional classified as general expenditure. Among municipal and assistance to the needy, plus the administration of such township governments, the only existing activity of this assistance. The cash assistance payments portion consists type is for public employee retirement systems with the of old age assistance, aid to families with dependent chil- exception of the District of Columbia which also operates dren, aid to the blind, and aid to the disabled. an unemployment compensation trust fund. See the report Employee Retirement Systems of State and Local Govern- Municipal and township government outlays include any ments (Volume 4, No. 6, 2002 Census of Governments) for payments for applicable cash benefits in excess of, or additional detailed information. supplementary to, those financed with federal or state par- ticipation. General relief, which is wholly financed from Indebtedness Concepts state and local sources, makes up most other cash assis- tance. Other public welfare spending includes: vendor Municipal and township government long-term debt payments under various public welfare programs, includ- includes general obligation bonds, guaranteed by the tax- ing the federally supported medical care program com- ing power of the governments, as well as nonguaranteed monly known as Medicaid; institutional care for the needy; indebtedness that pledges only some nontax source and administration of welfare activities. related to the bond purpose—rents, charges, or tolls, for example—as credit. Public debt for private purposes, such Hospitals as pollution control and industrial revenue issues, some- times comprise a considerable portion of the nonguaran- Expenditures for hospital facilities operated directly by teed debt amounts. municipal and township governments and payments to private medical facilities belong here. The classification of Cash and Security Holdings Concepts medical vendor payments varies somewhat between pub- lic welfare and hospitals according to the situation; private This category is dominated generally by public employee purveyor payments made under welfare programs are retirement system assets. It includes only the cash or classed as public welfare, but any services provided investment resources of governments, excluding any directly by a government through its hospital agency is other type of assets such as real property or fixed assets. included under the hospitals heading. A portion of a government’s investment portfolio, and something that can create sudden shifts in the offsets to Highways debt, are mortgages held in conjunction with the issuance Highways include provision and maintenance of highway of mortgage revenue debt. facilities, including toll turnpikes, bridges, tunnels, and ferries, as well as regular roads, highways, and streets. Intragovernmental and Intergovernmental These figures exclude interest on debt issued for highway Transactions purposes (included in general expenditure for interest) and highway policing costs (classified under police protec- Intragovernmental flows tion). Census statistics ignore governmental fund structure to achieve comparability. Since the data for each individual Natural Resources government represent a consolidation of amounts for its For municipal and township governments, natural various funds, payments between funds have been elimi- resources covers activities pertaining to soil conservation, nated. Thus, for example, a government’s contribution as flood control, irrigation, and drainage. However, local employer to a retirement fund it administers is not water supply and electric utilities are reported under utili- counted as an expenditure, nor is the receipt of this con- ties. tribution by the retirement fund considered as a revenue.
Governments—Government Finances Introduction ix
U.S. Census Bureau For census purposes, only the payment out of the fund for gas supply, and transit systems. Other studies broaden retirement benefits is classified as an this concept to include additional enterprise activities expenditure—insurance trust expenditure in this example. (e.g., sewerage) that the Census Bureau definition excludes. By referencing tables other than Table 12, this Municipal and township governments sometimes pay report may yield data on these broader concepts of utili- some interest on debt that is held as investment securities ties. For example, refer to Tables 3 and 8 for data on sew- by retirement funds they administer. However, because of erage charges and expenditures, respectively, that could the difficulty in identifying such transactions, this interest be added to the utility totals in Table 12. is counted as revenue in contravention of the rule about payments between funds. Table 12 shows revenue and expenditure amounts for municipally operated utility systems and Table 15 contains Intergovernmental flows this same information for Northeast townships. Of the Funds flowing between governments (subject to limited four types of utilities shown in those tables, electric power exceptions, mentioned below) are treated distinctively as is the most significant financially, but water supply is the intergovernmental revenue and intergovernmental expen- most common. diture. Mainly these represent grants-in-aid and the shar- Publicly operated liquor stores also retain a distinctive ing of tax proceeds but also include payments in lieu of classification in the Census Bureau’s data on government taxes and amounts for services performed by one govern- finances. Certain municipal governments in Alaska, Minne- ment for another on a reimbursable or cost-sharing basis. sota, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Wisconsin are the Total revenue and total expenditure for an individual gov- only municipalities that operate liquor stores and this is ernment, of course, include any intergovernmental comparable to the level of activity in other local govern- amounts. When measuring groups of governments, how- ments. No townships have this activity and only certain ever, monies going from one government to another must county governments in Maryland and North Carolina oper- be netted out to arrive at nonduplicative totals. These ate liquor stores. Among state governments, by contrast, aggregations treat each government as if it were a ‘‘fund’’ there are 17 that manage liquor store operations. under the intragovernmental flow described above. In reviewing the data in Tables 12 and 15 for utilities and The value of intergovernmental aid ‘‘in kind,’’ such as com- liquor stores, the following technical and analytical points modities distributed by the federal government for school apply: lunch purposes, is not treated as intergovernmental rev- enue or expenditure. Furthermore, the following transac- 1. Utility and liquor store revenue is defined as charges tions between governments have not been isolated for only. Taxes, intergovernmental and miscellaneous special treatment here as intergovernmental in nature: general revenue are all classified under general rev- enue and, therefore, are excluded here. 1. In situations where a government-administered employee-retirement system covers the employees of 2. Imbalances between total revenue and expenditure a second government, contributions by the latter are are common and might result from numerous factors included, without distinction, as part of the current such as the influence of general revenue described operation expenditure of the donor government, and above, sporadic capital outlays from debt sources, or as insurance trust revenue of the donee government. expenditures that are a draw down of assets.
2. No attempt at special treatment has been applied to 3. Minor amounts may represent differences in the inter- interest on outstanding debt that is paid to other gov- pretation of financial classifications. ernments holding the securities involved. Public Employee Retirement Systems in Municipal 3. No special handling has been attempted for transac- and Township Governments tions where governments deal as ordinary suppliers and customers—e.g., in purchasing property, utility Though most municipal and township government services, or supplies from one another. Under this employees are eligible for retirement coverage, the admin- method, then, when one government buys water or istration of that benefit varies considerably from state to electricity from a second, the entire transaction is clas- state. In some instances, state-administered retirement sified as utility revenue or expenditure with no inter- systems cover local government employees, and this can governmental component. take the form of general coverage for all employees or specialized coverage for a specific group of local employ- Utilities and Liquor Stores ees such as police officers or fire fighters. Where munici- In Census Bureau reporting on government finances, the pal or township governments administer their own retire- term utilities pertains only to four types of enterprises ment systems, the greatest effect on the data in this operated by governments—water supply, electric power, report will likely be in cash and security holdings. x Introduction Governments—Government Finances
U.S. Census Bureau EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT CHANGE IN 2002 The tabular display does not reflect the full extent of data that are available for each of these governments. Contact Prior to 2002, data on corporate bonds and stocks were the Customer Services Division, U.S. Census Bureau for requested at book value. Beginning with the 2002 survey cycle, the Census Bureau changed the reporting of asset documentation on the 2002 Census of Governments valuation from book to market value consistent with the (Finance Phase) data file, which contains detailed informa- Governments Accounting Standard Board (GASB) Statement tion on the approximately 87,500 governments covered 34 requirements. The Office of Management and Budget by the 2002 Census of Governments. (OMB) approved these changes and expected the numbers to reflect major changes. The Federal Reserve and the Relation to Other Census Reports Bureau of Economic Analysis also supported this change. Finance data shown in this report are taken from the gov- As a result of this change, employee retirement revenue in ernment finance phase of the 2002 Census of Govern- 2002 can be reported negative if losses on the invest- ments for fiscal years that ended between July 1, 2001 ments were greater than the earnings. These losses are and June 30, 2002. Counts of governments from the orga- both real and statistical. In reality the systems did lose nization and employment phases of the 2002 Census of money due to the recession and the decline of the stock Governments may differ slightly from those shown here market during the survey period. However, the change in because of reference period differences. The government the definition of asset valuation from book to market organization phase reports on number of units identified value may have contributed to this reported loss. Users of as active in January 2002. The government employment this data need to be aware that this change leads to a dis- phase uses March 2002 as the reference month for report- connect in the time series for this survey. ing on employment and payrolls.
FINANCIAL DATA FOR POPULATION-SIZE GROUPS SOURCES OF DATA Tables 13 and 16 summarize selected financial items for various population-size classes of municipalities and Data Collection Northeast townships, respectively, both nationally and in each state. The percent distribution and per capita calcula- This census assembled information for all of the municipal tions of these basic amounts, which are also provided, and township governments which were in existence in fis- indicate the relative financial scale of governments of vari- cal 2001-02. The initial data collection phase used three ous sizes. However, the scope of government responsibil- methods to obtain data: mail canvass, field compilation, ity differs widely throughout the nation. Intrastate analysis and centralized collection from state sources. generally do not encounter this difficulty and can reveal substantial differences among size groups. The mail canvass involved the use of detailed census schedules with related reporting instructions. Census INDIVIDUAL MUNICIPAL AND NORTHEAST examiners reviewed the mail reports intensively and used TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENTS extensive correspondence to supplement and verify incomplete and questionable information. In significant The presentation in Tables 18 and 19 show financial statis- cases, where returns of acceptable data could not be tics for, respectively, 1,248 individual municipal govern- obtained by mail canvass or from available published ments and 207 individual Northeast township govern- sources, census enumerators visited local government ments. Each government displayed in these tables had a offices to obtain the basic statistics or important missing 2000 population of 25,000 or more. The tabulations also information. contain these 2000 populations and the fiscal year ending dates. Within each state, the governments are arranged A central data collection system existed for municipal gov- alphabetically. ernments in 32 states and township governments in 15 See the discussion in ‘‘Sources of Data’’ and ‘‘Limitations of states: Data’’ below in this text for differing analytical uses of individual government and county area data. Also, refer to MUNICIPALITIES appendix B for the summarized financial data of govern- ments of 25,000 population or more where there has been Alaska California Oklahoma Florida a merger of the municipal and county government activi- Arizona Idaho South Carolina Iowa ties. Georgia Illinois Indiana Michigan Kansas Kentucky Massachusetts Rhode Island The footnotes and symbols in Tables 18 and 19 denote Minnesota Maryland Pennsylvania West Virginia data that are not for the 2002 fiscal year. An ‘‘NA’’ indi- Missouri Montana Nebraska Wisconsin cates that the Census Bureau staff imputed information Nevada New Hampshire North Dakota Wyoming using the methods described under ‘‘Sources of Data.’’ New York North Carolina Washington Utah
Governments—Government Finances Introduction xi
U.S. Census Bureau TOWNSHIPS prior year data to get a current year imputed value. For municipalities and townships that failed to report in the Illinois Indiana Kansas Massachusetts prior census or subsequent annual surveys, a responding Michigan Minnesota Missouri Nebraska municipality or township from the same group as the non- New Hampshire New Jersey New York North Dakota respondent was randomly selected and per capita values Wisconsin Pennsylvania Rhode Island for the respondent were multiplied by the population of The methodology used in each instance and the extent of the nonrespondent to get imputed values for the nonre- the available data varied widely. As with mail canvass spondent. questionnaires, the basic financial data sometimes needed supplementation for such items as debt, assets, particular Population Data functional expenditures, or revenue items. Census staff The populations used in this publication, come from the obtained these supplementary data from special tabula- 2000 Decennial Census. These were used in this report tions in other state offices, printed reports, secondary both as an exhibit and in calculating per capita amounts. sources, or supplemental mailings directly to the local governments. Statistical Nature of Data
LIMITATIONS OF DATA Finance amounts presented in this publication are statisti- cal in nature and do not represent an accounting state- Although the data in a census are not subject to sampling ment. Therefore, a difference between an individual gov- error, the data are subject to various nonsampling errors. ernment’s total revenues and expenditures does not For this census, these errors may include response errors, necessarily indicate a ‘‘budget’’ surplus or deficit. Large errors caused by nonresponse, and processing errors. capital outlay expenditures, debt issuance or retirement, Every effort is made to keep these errors at a minimum. changes in cash and security holdings, or the existence of All schedules—mail canvass, those compiled by Census a retirement system are all factors that might have an Bureau-trained enumerators from official sources, field important influence on the balance between revenues and enumerated, and centrally collected—were examined for expenditures. evidence of completeness, internal consistency, and a rea- sonable relation to figures reported for earlier periods. In Individual Municipal or Township Governments addition to the manual review, a computerized edit and Geographic Area Data checked for impossible or improbable entries and identi- Data in this report relate only to municipal and township fied in detail the differences with prior data. governments and their dependent agencies and they do These procedures applied to the 2002 Census of Govern- not include amounts for other local governments in the ments were designed to achieve, for the data reported same geographic location. For example, municipal or here, a high standard of completeness and accuracy. township government expenditure figures for education Undoubtedly, however, some mistakes and inconsistencies do not include spending by separate school districts that of official reporting, or of Census Bureau handling of par- administer public schools within many areas. Variations in ticular items, have escaped detection. Please inform the the assignment of governmental responsibility, especially Governments Division, U.S. Census Bureau, if the tables or important in the areas of public welfare, health, hospitals, data reveal potential problems. and public housing, also have an important effect upon reported amounts of individual government expenditure, After using the extensive follow-up efforts detailed in the revenue, and debt. data collection section, only a minor percentage of the municipal and township data file—representing nearly all Interstate comparisons should also take the allocation of small municipal or township governments—remained governmental responsibilities into account. Refer to Vol- incomplete. Only 18.5 percent of the municipalities and ume 1, No. 2 State Descriptions (2002 Census of Govern- townships were total nonrespondents to the census. Impu- ments) for a state-by-state explanation of the legal struc- tations were done for these missing data. ture of local government. Table 50 in the Compendium of Government Finances (Volume 4, No. 5, 2002 Census of For municipalities and townships that failed to respond, Governments) will provide an aggregation of local govern- missing data were imputed by using the most recently ment finances within the geographic boundaries of indi- reported prior year census or annual survey data. These vidual county areas, a data arrangement that reduces the data were adjusted by growth rates calculated from simi- effect of variable assignments of responsibility for local lar municipalities and townships, i.e., in the same state governments. and about the same size. The average growth rates for the reporting municipalities and townships were calculated for A number of municipalities differ from the overwhelming each group. The appropriate average growth rate was majority in that they operate, either specifically by law or applied to the nonreporting municipality and township in effect, as composite city-county governments. This xii Introduction Governments—Government Finances
U.S. Census Bureau group includes New York City, Philadelphia, and several used in this report. ‘‘Weak township states’’ were the cur- other of the most populous cities in the nation. One of rent North Central Region less Michigan and Wisconsin. To these cities—Washington, DC—is unique in that it has no construct groupings comparable to those used prior to overlying State government and thus provides certain ser- 1982, use the state-by-state data available in Tables 15 vices commonly provided by states, as well as various and 17 in this publication. county-type services. Appendix B provides a summary of data for these city-county governments with a population AVAILABILITY OF DATA of 25,000 or more. These 39 governments in fiscal Copies of Volume 4, No. 4, Finances of Municipal and 2001-02 accounted for about 32 percent of the total rev- Township Governments, and other reports of the 2002 enue and expenditure, and 31 percent of the total indebt- Census of Governments are available from the Superinten- edness of all municipalities in the nation. dent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Relation to Historical Data Washington, DC 20302 and U.S. Department of Commerce District Offices. In general, the statistics presented here closely parallel in concepts, coverage, and classification the data in corre- This report will also be available in electronic form at sponding reports (Vol. 4, No. 4) in other quinquennial can- www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/govern.html. For details, vasses. For a detailed comparative analysis, however, take contact the Governments Division, U.S. Census Bureau, into account changes such as legal shifts in responsibility Washington DC 20233, or telephone 800-242-2184. for certain activities and economic fluctuations. MEANING OF SYMBOLS One noteworthy historical change occurred after 1982 in the township summaries. Prior to then, the township data The symbols in the tables have the following meanings: were summarized into groupings that are not comparable with the ones in this report. The category ‘‘strong town- – Represents zero or round to zero. ship states’’ in 1977 and before consisted of Michigan, NA Not available. Wisconsin, and the nine states in the Northeast Region X Not applicable.
Governments—Government Finances Introduction xiii
U.S. Census Bureau Table 1. National Summary of Municipal Government Finances: 2001 02, 1996 97, and 1991 92 [Dollar amounts are in millions. For meaning of abbreviations and symbols, see introductory text. Detail may not add to total because of rounding]
2001 02 1996 97 1991 92 Percent change