Mark Moses has thirty years of experience in local government administration and finance. He is the author of The Municipal Financial Crisis – A Framework for Understanding and Fixing Government Budgeting (Palgrave Macmillan, January 2022).
The municipal financial crisis is more urgent than ever. It has been four years since my book, The Municipal Financial Crisis, was published by Palgrave Macmillan. I wrote the book to bring to light the root causes of why our local governments are failing to manage administratively, operationally, and financially. Looking back today, I find...
By Mark Moses
When Permission Replaces Property Rights, the California Dream Becomes a Dream Deferred For over a century, California stood as a frontier of first resort for the ambitious, attracting those eager to escape old-world constraints in exchange for a promise of radical autonomy. This California Dream was not a byproduct of luck; it was forged by...
By Mark Moses
For years, cities have implemented various metrics and scoring systems to assess their fiscal condition. The Government Finance Officers Association provides a “Fiscal First Aid” program complete with a multi-step process for assessing fiscal health. Yet such efforts have not improved cities’ ability to manage their finances. A recent report by the National League of...
By Mark Moses
About four months have passed since most local government agencies adopted FY2025‑26 budgets, and roughly four months remain before leaders begin planning FY2026‑27. But waiting to think about budget decisions until the official start of the budget process is a costly mistake. Every day that passes with inaction is a lost opportunity to improve both...
By Mark Moses
Hayward, the Bay Area’s sixth largest city, is facing a self-inflicted financial crisis. By failing to responsibly budget, municipal leaders are failing the 162,000 residents who pay the city’s high taxes and rely on municipal services. At its June 17, 2025, meeting, the Hayward City Council adopted the city’s operating budget for Fiscal Year 2025-26.1...
By Mark Moses
Economic development departments are often celebrated as promoters of prosperity and local employment. Each year, local governments spend tens of billions of dollars on economic development incentives—tax abatements, fee waivers, and direct subsidies—intended to lure private investment. Cities across the nation tout their ability to entice marquee employers, generate buzz with ribbon-cuttings, and implement incentive...
By Mark Moses
Although public opinion, most private organizations, and the federal government have turned against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), it remains deeply embedded in the culture of California state and local government. As a result, taxpayers and ratepayers are funding millions of dollars of government DEI-related expenditures annually, and the spending is likely to persist without...
By Marc Joffe, Mark Moses
The misguided quest for efficient government As the wildfires raged in southern California last month, we witnessed bipartisan support for the reintroduction of The Fix our Forests Act, ostensibly designed to reform forest management. At the same time, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power announced that it will submit to outside investigations to...
By Mark Moses
The many California agencies that have placed new taxes on the November ballot owe it to their residents and businesses to wean their organizations from reliance on serial tax increases to remain afloat. It’s disconcerting that such a clearly unsustainable strategy has become the go-to solution for so many municipal leaders. The problem is that...
By Mark Moses
Last spring, when I wrote “The Rise of Zombie Cities,” I thought that, by now, some of my statements would have been proven prophetic. In the article, I discussed the results of the California State Auditor’s 2022 report on the “Fiscal Health of Cities.” I also noted several negative trends affecting city finances, such as...
By Mark Moses
The City of San Francisco is reeling from rampant crime and facing a commercial real estate crash. Arguably, City policies have created both problems – the former, a result of lax law enforcement, and the latter, a consequence of the first, coupled with unfriendly business policies. Meanwhile, the City is facing a $489 million budget...
By Mark Moses
This past summer, the National Civic League published an article entitled “Is It None of Our Business?” The purpose of the article was to evaluate whether local government agencies should be undertaking national issues, which the League characterizes as “the ‘nationalization’ of local government matters.” The League concludes that such nationalization constitutes a “positive phenomenon.”...
By Mark Moses
When the California State Auditor’s Office released its annual report on the “Fiscal Health of California Cities” in fall 2022, most city officials and journalists focused on the blunt financial risk rating results and the relative position of their city organization amongst the 431 cities analyzed. But there is more that we can learn from...
By Mark Moses
Virtually everyone in local government claims to champion transparency and accountability, but few attempt to define either of these terms or identify what conditions support and maintain them. Too often, municipal leaders rely on gimmicks and process to demonstrate that their government organization is meeting these laudable goals, rather than focus on building the culture...
By Mark Moses
a new form will got here