Like many municipal functions, revenue mobilization is a shared responsibility, with staff and elected leaders each playing a part.

But which part?

Especially when it comes to the overall revenue strategy and harnessing new revenue streams, we've found that there's room for role definition.

Most of the financial studies municipalities commission focus on cost control and most revenue studies are rate-setting studies.

While many observers have stated that COVID re-shone a spotlight on municipalities’ revenue weakness, we look at whether ‘not enough money’ was ever a problem Councils were willing to solve through own-source revenue.

We often hear that local governments in Canada get just 9 cents of every tax dollar. But how much of that is even a council’s to spend?

One study found that just 9% of a municipality’s annual operating spend flowed from council decisions.*

How local is your local government’s budget?