Public Finance for Planners Patrick Dugan and Nancy Eklund
The education and training of local governmental planners tend to neglect the importance and role of public finance in the practice of the planning. Planning curricula seldom includes public finance as a required subject and planning conventions and conferences infrequently include finance among the topics addressed in their sessions. As a result, a typical planner’s understanding of public finance is weak even though public finance in general, and capital facility finance in specific, is critical to the implementation of comprehensive plans and other planning programs. Planning decisions also affect public financial obligations and resources (most notably, but not limited to, the costs of supporting urban sprawl) and financial decisions can impose constraints on, or provide incentives for...
