The Nation : Revenue Hungry Cities Raise Fees, Taxes

Two of three U.S. cities increased fees for local services last year and two of five raised local property taxes as municipal governments continued struggling to find sources of revenue to compensate for increasingly scarce federal funds, a survey showed. More than half of the 347 cities that responded to a poll by the National League of Cities slowed the growth of their operating budgets and 44% reported reductions in spending on capital construction projects. The findings, based on city financial reports for the year ending June 30, represent a slight tightening of city fiscal conditions over the previous year. They continue a downward trend that began in 1986 when Congress abolished federal revenue sharing.