# Ferguson: Where is the money supposed to come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 10, 2016, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-where-is-the-money-supposed-to-come-from/745760 "2016-02-10T22:53:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-where-is-the-money-supposed-to-come-from/745760/41 "2016-02-11T20:14:21Z")
Yeah, it looks like the capital construction spending is high now and supposed to go down a bit over the next two years. Obviously that fund is being used to build something, not sure what though. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-where-is-the-money-supposed-to-come-from/745760/42 "2016-02-11T21:33:22Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > It sounds like Ferguson can levy property taxes (which is true of municipalities in almost all of the States), and sales taxes (true in a smaller subset of the states.) I’m not sure if they can levy income taxes, in a lot of states they are not allowed to do that. The simple answer is the money to cover lost fine revenue would have to come from property taxes. Allowing cities to levy income taxes is a really bad idea. Look at Detroit. Way back when, the state decided to let Detroit levy an income tax. Guess how that worked out? Nobody, but nobody, wants to pay an extra level of income tax if they can avoid it. And it turns out it’s not hard to move jobs to other nearby cities. Ford’s headquarters is in Dearborn, not Detroit. Chrysler’s headquarters is in Auburn Hills, not Detroit. General Motors’ headquarters is in Detoit, but the Tech Center (with all GM’s engineering & development – basically most of the white-collar work) is in Warren, not Detroit. On scales large & small, jobs fled the city to the surrounding suburbs that can’t levy their own income tax. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-where-is-the-money-supposed-to-come-from/745760/43 "2016-02-11T21:42:09Z")
I agree with that, although some States all the local municipalities will levy a tax. In Ohio most regions, all the little towns levy income taxes and usually within +/- 0.5% of each other in terms of rate. I’m not sure if they collude to get that done or it’s just happened over time. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-where-is-the-money-supposed-to-come-from/745760/44 "2016-02-11T23:24:59Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > The citizens’ money, which pays the salaries of the city government officials and the police. The same police that the DOJ found were engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination and racial profiling. The same city government that the DOJ has accused of misusing the police to generate municipal revenue. I still don’t see any evidence that the government officials are being personally enriched by these fines. It’s not like the Mayor and Police Chief and spending the money on hookers and blow in Vegas. The Mayor and City Council are elected, and I believe the Police Chief, along with other city officials, are appointed, probably by the same Mayor and City Council. The answer, then, is at the ballot box, not the DOJ. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-where-is-the-money-supposed-to-come-from/745760/45 "2019-08-07T19:48:18Z")
Update (just came across an [article about “Ferguson, five years later”](https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/6/20754600/ferguson-michael-brown-killing-police-brutality-2014-protests-riots-5-years-later)): In terms of overall municipal spending, the budget took a huge hit when fines were cut back, but since made it up with an increased sales tax (including a countywide “Proposition P”), and revenue is back to where it was before the fines were cut back. [Cite](https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/four-years-later-ferguson) While the overall revenue is roughly the same as it was before the fines were cut back (though higher than it was at the time the consent decree was promulgated, via the sales taxes), the parts of the consent decree to which the city objected to on cost grounds - mainly increased police salaries - have not been implemented. [Cite](https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/ferguson-needs-to-make-more-progress-on-consent-decree-federal/article_047fa0e7-ca28-5734-8555-ef4366448400.html) So it sounds like the question in the OP is still unresolved, though that itself may say something. ---
**Author:** ![fedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@fedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-where-is-the-money-supposed-to-come-from/745760/46 "2019-08-09T09:04:39Z")
> [@Pearl\_Clutching\_Provocateur](#): > > Cut the police force by two thirds. There’s very little crime in Ferguson. It was only white cops harassing Black people anyway. since you live in SoCal, how do you know what crime rate is? ---
**Author:** ![fedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@fedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-where-is-the-money-supposed-to-come-from/745760/47 "2019-08-09T09:06:12Z")
> [@theR](#): > > Maybe they could start taxing the top few percent of earners locally in Ferguson since previously they’ve been fleecing the poorest for years or even generations. If they already have a local tax, which I doubt, then they should raise it starting with the highest earners. where is your cite for your assertion? ---
**Author:** ![fedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@fedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-where-is-the-money-supposed-to-come-from/745760/48 "2019-08-09T09:10:41Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > Something has to give. Like, say, that mishmash of St. Louis metro area municipalities might need to be consolidated. The constitutional rights of the citizens takes precedence over the desire of local notables to have power. like st louis is unique in structure? Cleveland has not succeeded in consolidation ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-where-is-the-money-supposed-to-come-from/745760/49 "2019-08-09T15:26:14Z")
You’re replying to people who haven’t posted here in years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-where-is-the-money-supposed-to-come-from/745760.md?page=2)