Urban Infrastructure Policies and Capital Spending in City Manager and Strong Mayor Cities

Abstract

This paper analyzes the standard infrastructure policies of seven Texas city manager cities and seven Indiana strong mayor cities to (1) determine whether different levels of formality are associated with the policies; (2) assess differences in financial participation required of private developers and city governments; and (3) determine whether the resulting capital expenditure patterns of the cities vary. I use qualitative analysis, analysis of variance, and regression analysis to address these objectives. The analyses suggest that infrastructure policies of the strong mayor cities and city manager cities reflect two different approaches to the provision of public capital facilities. City manager policies are more formalized and have greater specifications for oversizing and cost sharing between the city and developers. Strong mayor policies are informal, flexible, and based on "case-by-case" consideration of developers' proposals. The different policy environments also seem to affect capital spending for roads, sewers, and water in the cities. The Texas city manager cities spend more per capita on capital facilities than the Indiana strong mayor cities. Differences in capital spending exist even after controlling for fundamental economic, fiscal, and demographic differences among the cities. City manager cities spend significantly more than the strong mayor cities on water, sewer, and road infrastructure per capita.