Privatization
The analysis of the budget of the city of Rome, GA, as well as the review of the press, revealed no privatization efforts and plans. However, considering the recent budget revision (County Manager, 2019), the city can benefit from privatization or partnership with private and non-profit organizations. On the one hand, the city government may improve the performance of the school security system by hiring private security companies, which can provide better services for a lower price since they have an extensive infrastructure. Considering that the government announced $69.4 million for the safety of school students, the money can be distributed to facilitate partnerships between private and public sectors, which could lead to an increase in revenues from taxation.
On the other hand, the government can cut its costs by partnering with environmental organizations. The US government is pressuring local budgets by pushing towards more environment-friendly decisions for energy and water resources. Such an organization as Local Government for Sustainability (ICLEI, n.d.) can help to create and maintain cost-efficient measures for preserving natural resources and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. While such partnerships may fail to mitigate immediate expenditures in the field, they will be able to do so in the long run. Moreover, it will improve the government’s image and approval of the public.
Alternative Taxes
The government of the city of Rome, GA, demonstrates no intentions to move to alternative taxes. Even though the percentage income from liquor and wine tax, charges and services, and licenses and permits have increased, the revenues from other alternative sources have decreased (Governments of Floyd County and City of Rome, GA, 2019). Moreover, the percentage profits from Ad Valorem tax, which is among the primary taxes for local governments has increased by 26.2% (Governments of Floyd County and City of Rome, GA, 2019), which may indicate that the governing body of the city does not intend to adopt policies for shifting towards alternative taxes.
Even though Fox (2010) suggests that the majority of state and local governments can receive additional income from alternative sources of taxation, the government of Rome does not seem to have found the ability to do so. As a result, the city commission informed the public that it is going to increase the property tax (Rome City Commission, 2019). Therefore, it may be concluded that the City of Rome does not intend to increase the percentage of income from alternative taxes.
Policy Analysis
The bills passed by the State of Georgia in April 2019 can help the city of Rome to find additional revenue streams. First, the state has lowered the threshold for distant organizations that allowed sellers who have $250,000 of Georgia retail sales not to report to the State IRC (Eversheds Sutherlands, 2019). In 2019, the threshold was lowered to $100,000, which can bring additional income to local governments as well (Eversheds Sutherlands, 2019).
Second, SB 120 – Georgia Tax Credit Business Place Act now allows “the chairs of the legislative committee charged with reviewing fiscal bills to each request up to three “economic analyses” per year from the state auditor” (Eversheds Sutherlands, 2019, para. 8). This means that more businesses will be able to qualify for tax credits and exemptions, which can stimulate the development of business in the city of Rome. More companies can generate more income for the local budget through direct and indirect taxation.
References
County Manager. (2019). Floyd County, Georgia – FY 2019 first budget revision. Web.
Eversheds Sutherlands. (2019). Georgia Legislature enacts significant tax legislation but falls short on major sales tax proposals. JDSupra. Web.
Fox, W. F. (2010). Can state and local governments rely on alternative tax sources? Regional Economic Development: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 6, 88-101.
Governments of Floyd County and City of Rome, GA. (2019). Trends. Web.
ICLEI. (n.d.). About us. Web.
Rome City Commission. (2019). Notice of property tax increase. Web.
Walker, D. (2019). Worries about state budget cuts addressed during Chamber breakfast with lawmakers. Web.