Where Mississippi cities get their money.

The Mississippi Municipal League recently surveyed 50 cities in Mississippi regarding their source of revenue.  In an article by Shari Veazey published in the current (Vol.60. No. 4) issue of Mississippi Municipalities magazine, here is a list of sources or revenues and the percentages:

31%…..  Sales Tax

24%…..  Property Tax

17%…..  Miscellaneous

14%…..  intergovernmental Revenue

8%……  Franchise fees, license and permits

6%……  Fines and Forfeitures

This particular issue of Mississippi Municipalities Magazine is entitled How Mississippi Cities Work.  I recommend it highly for anyone who wants to better understand the subject.

 

Where to find your county’s real strategic plan.

Many local governments go through the strategic planning process and set goals for the coming year or for the current administration. unfortunately, most do not. Nevertheless, the county or municipality has gone through another process that results in the listing of priorities of the administration. It is known as the budgeting process. And that’s where the county or local governments priorities can be found – in the budget.

The job factories of the future – what successful communities will look like.

“So Much Fun.  So Irrelevant.” is the title of Thomas Friedman’s New York Times online post of January 3, 2012.  In it he discusses what the Republican candidates are not talking about.  It is a worthwhile read in the typical Thomas Friedman fashion.  The below paragraph struck me as especially interesting because it lists some of the traits of the successful community, which is here referred to as ecosystem, of the future.

The best of these ecosystems will be cities and towns that combine a university, an educated populace, a dynamic business community and the fastest broadband connections on earth. These will be the job factories of the future. The countries that thrive will be those that build more of these towns that make possible “high-performance knowledge exchange and generation,” explains Blair Levin, who runs the Aspen Institute’s Gig.U project, a consortium of 37 university communities working to promote private investment in next-generation ecosystems.

The Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccesful Executives

“The Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccesful Executives” is the title of a blog post by Iron Fire Capital LLC founder Eric Jackson at Forbes.com.  Considering a few of the executives mentioned in the article it would be difficult to disagree. (WARNING:  Clicking on a link to Forbes.com can result in – my peeve – unwanted audio.)  Here’s the list of those seven habits:

1:  They see themselves and their companies as dominating their environment.

2:  They identify so completely with the company that there is no clear boundary between their personal interests and their corporation’s interests.

3:  They think they have all the answers.

4:  They ruthlessly eliminate anyone who isn’t completely behind them.

5: They are consummate spokespersons, obsessed with the company image.

6: They underestimate obstacles.

7: They stubbornly rely on what worked for them in the past.

Although the above list is written about public officials, I wonder if it could also apply to mayors and governors.