User Charges as a Source of Local Government Revenue in the South

摘要

The importance of user charge revenue in county and municipal governments in the South in 1977 is explored, based on the Census of Governments finance data. The importance of water service charges in all municipalities, and the importance of charge and utility revenue in municipalities of 1,000 population or greater and in counties is examined. When measured as the ratio of charges to own source revenue or taxes, local governments in nonmetropolitan areas are generally more reliant on charge revenue than are local governments in metropolitan areas. On a per capita basis, however, charges are not always higher in nonmetropolitan areas.