Abstract

:Special district structure in US metropolitan areas has not been analyzed, although studies document the growth of special districts and their impact on the coordination and planning activities of local governments. Few estimates have been made of public capital spending in metropolitan areas and none that classify spending by cities and special districts. Thus, there has been no comparison of how metropolitan areas differ in their reliance on special districts. This paper attempts to fill these research voids. The authors studied the 1987 capital spending patterns of 105 metropolitan areas. While the outlays for special districts were significant, city governments were the major force in infrastructure capital spending. Although metropolitan regions with high reliance on special districts had higher incomes, private capital investment was slightly higher. The authors found no evidence that reliance on special districts was associated with higher levels of outstanding debt.