Local Government Funding

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This lesson is most appropriate for High School classrooms.

Theme: How are local governments funded

MCF Benchmark: Explain the advantages and disadvantages of a federal system of government.

Other benchmarks this lesson targets include:

  • Critically read data from tables, charts or graphs and explain the source of the data and what the data represent.
  • Evaluate how effectively the federal government is serving the purposes for which it was created.
  • Identify benefits and challenges of diversity in American life.
  • Evaluate proposals for reform of the political system.
  • Select criteria to use in evaluating tax policy.
  • Identify what data are needed to answer a particular question or solve a given problem and design and implement strategies to obtain, organize and present those data.

Materials needed:

  • Poster board or other large medium for presentation (power point presentations)
  • Computer and Internet Access for Students
  • Markers/Utensils for display production.
  • Attached downloads

Methodological procedure:

This lesson will be most effective if followed by or preceded by the MCI lesson plan, "What activities are local governments responsible for?" This presents the service aspect of local government, opening student perspective to the whole budgetary process.

Steps 1-5 can be completed on Day One and outside time if necessary. Allowing a few days between Day One and Day Two will allow students outside time to finish presentations. Day Two will consist of Steps 6-7.

  1. The teacher will briefly introduce the topic of local government funding. In downloads, you will find a lecture presentation and a note guide for students (Powerpoint Presentation of Introductory Notes on Local Government Funding and Student Note Guide for Opening Lecture)
  2. Divide students into groups.
  3. Each group will research online an assigned Michigan city, township, village, county or school board (websites of various local governments that offer budget information are provided).
  4. After locating statistics on revenue, groups will record as specifically as possible where revenue (funding) comes from and what % of the whole each revenue method makes up. The notes that students collected from the opening lecture will offer categorical guidance.
  5. On a poster board, each student group will illustrate via pie chart or some other creative visual how their assigned local government raises revenue.
  6. Student groups will present their findings to the class while other students take notes on the various ways each local government deals with funding. A note-guide for students is provided as a download (Note Guide for Student Presentations).
  7. Closure via class discussion guided by the teacher. See Notes for suggested wrap- up questions.

Author's notes:

  1. More information on finance at the local government level for teacher enrichment is provided in web links below ('Bird's Eye View of Michigan' and 'Financing Local Government Services'). Limit lecture to fifteen or twenty minutes.
  2. At Step 2, divide groups according to what best fits the needs of your particular class and classroom.
  3. Regarding Steps 3-4, due to the fact that various websites offer different levels of information related to budget, there may be variation in the depth of information groups discover. The lesson is designed to deal with this.
  4. Regarding Step 5, for poster board development, stress that these are for class presentation and the visual needs to be clear and visible to the audience. It is helpful to show students excellent and /or poor examples of visuals to provide clear expectations. You may wish to illustrate via your own example using the city, township, etc. in which you live. This will give students an excellent starting point and some perspective as they begin their research into their assigned local government. Over time, keep the excellent student products of previous years to provide living 'rubrics' of expectations.
  5. Regarding Step 7: Closure questions for Class Discussion:
    --What are some of the differences in funding methods between the local governments researched?
    --What are some of the similarities?
    --Why are there so many different methods of fund raising? Why are some local governments raising more than others? (more people, more services, etc.)
    --How does this activity clearly illustrate federalism? How does our study illustrate the advantages of federalism when it comes to local government funding? How about disadvantages? [See Power Point on Federalism in Downloads for an overview of the concept.]
    --Are some methods of fundraising unfair? That is, do some methods favor certain people/ sectors? How could this be changed? Should it be changed?
    --The power of external forces make for constantly changing budgets. Present a scenario and have students respond. What if unemployment hit 20%? What if a major corporation left your locality? How might your local government need to respond in order to cover or maintain lost revenues due to lost business taxes, income taxes, federal aid, etc.? There is no static for local governments when it comes to funding. This is why local governments change funding methods and services with changing times.
  6. This lesson will be most effective if followed by or preceded by the MCI lesson plan, 'What activities are local governments responsible for?' This presents the service aspect of local government, opening student perspective to the whole budgetary process.

Assessment strategies:

Assessment may occur one of two ways.

  1. Asessment could occur on a unit ending test on Local government. An example of a MEAP-formatted testing assessment for local government funding is provided in Assessment One in downloads.
  2. The other option is to have the students do a written response to the unit as described in Assessment Two provided in downloads.

Enrichment suggestions:

  1. One option for enrichment is to have local politicians or government officials come into the classroom and talk firsthand about the budget process, particularly how local governments gain revenue. Local officials are generally enthusiastic about classroom visits and flexible about scheduling.
  2. Another option will provides a clearer picture of the budget process and illustrate how revenues provide service via expenditures. By adding one day to the lesson, the teacher can add expenditures (services) to the assignment, thus making it clear what the revenue is providing for in service and administrative costs. This will also further sharpen their view of the advantages and disadvantages of federalism by illustrating the wide variation in service from community to community. This also allows them to see how some services need more general revenue funding and others fund themselves via user fees, licensing, etc. Finally, this more complete lesson places the student in the position to better evaluate waste, 'bang for the buck,' fairness, and tax policy.

Available downloads:

Suggested web sites:

  • City of Royal Oak
    This is the official website for the city of Royal Oak, Michigan. If you go to their icon for Finance, you will be able to download their annual budget which provides a long list of their Fund Revenue.
  • Kent County
    At the Kent County site, under Government and then the icon for Administration Office will give you a detailed account of the Kent County Budget Revenues. Scroll down the homepage for links to official websites of seven townships, one village, and eight cities from within Kent County.
  • Cascade Township
    This is the official website of Cascade Township. If you go to the Manager's icon and then Budget, you will find all revenue funding.
  • Grand Rapids Township
    This is the official site of Grand Rapids Township. Go to the "townhall" icon and click on "budget".
  • Michigan Municipal League
    The Michigan Municipal League site has links to more than 150 cities and townships. You should verify whether sites have budget information prior to assigning them for this assignment. Many of these sites do not provide specific budgetary details.
  • City of Wyoming
    This is the official website of the City of Wyoming. Go to City Services and clickon the "Finance" icon and then the "Annual Budget" icon for the full readout on Wyoming Revenue.
  • City of Alma
    This is the official site of the City of Alma, Michigan. Budget informaition and a brief summary of Revenue funds are easy to locate without further instruction.
  • City of Ann Arbor
    This is the official site of the City of Ann Arbor. If you go to the annual budget, they will give you many different
  • A Bird's Eye View of Michigan Local Government at the End of the Twentieth Century
    This publication has excellent general information on how local governments are funded. Go to Chapter (or part ) Four, pp.25-32. This can be helpful for teachers looking for lecture guidance as to the various types of funding in local government.
  • Financing Local Government Services
    This is an article by JOhn Petersen that gives excellent general information on the funding of local governments in Michigan along with some comparatives to other states.
  • Livonia Public Schools
    This official site of the Livonia Public Schools gives budget information on this school district. Go to the "District Information" icon and then click on "Finance".
  • Detroit
    The official site of the City of Detroit has a wealth of information. For funding, just click on the icon for budget.