Municipal Finances Focus Area
Overview: Climate change will impact local government revenues and expenditures. Researchers in this Focus Area explore climate-related financial risk to inform future municipal budget allocation decisions. Their work analyzes historical data to understand the fiscal impact of climate disasters on local governments in order to create online decision-support tools. Researchers are also exploring how the reliance on property taxes can encourage development in flood-prone areas, necessitating incentives for sustainable planning as well as how buying out properties in high-risk areas can be cost-effective, and loss of property-tax revenue may be offset by reducing emergency and infrastructure expenses. This Focus Area is creating data-driven analytical tools, supporting the reshaping of financial incentives, and encouraging a more efficient intergovernmental response to strengthen communities against economic and environmental challenges related to climate change
Focus area leads:
