Cities Can’t Build the Future on Yesterday’s Budget
Cities don’t have a spending problem.
They have a revenue strategy problem.
In my last article, “The Abundance Agenda Is Right, But Cities Aren’t Ready to Deliver It”, I argued that the national vision for abundance will live or die at City Hall. Visionary policy won’t deliver results if cities lack the capacity, systems, and alignment to get the work done.
This week, I want to go a level deeper: Cities cannot deliver on the promises of the Abundance Agenda if they’re still budgeting like it’s 1999.
Cities say yes to the future, then try to fund it with tools from the past. That disconnect is at the heart of our delivery failures.
A Continuation of the Civic Delivery Conversation
Last week, I wrote about how local governments are often unprepared to deliver on the big promises of the Abundance Agenda, bogged down by outdated permitting systems, limited capacity, and bureaucratic drag.
But even if those systems worked perfectly, we’d still hit a wall:
Cities don’t have a financial strategy for the future they’re trying to build.
The Tools Are Outdated — and So Is the Playbook
The biggest misconception in American local government is that cities are underperforming because they don’t have enough money.
That’s only half true.
The real problem is that cities are still over-relying on outdated tools: property taxes, meals taxes, parking revenues, and annual state and federal grants. These tools are:
- Rigid: They can’t flex in response to emerging priorities.
- Regressive: They often disproportionately burden low-income residents.
- Reactive: They fund yesterday’s challenges, not tomorrow’s opportunities.
Cities need a new civic revenue strategy built on alignment, proactivity, and impact.
The PULSE Line Was Just the Beginning
In 2018, Richmond opened the PULSE Bus Rapid Transit line to improve regional mobility and catalyze investment along the corridor. It worked. Development exploded along the line.
But we missed a step:
We didn’t pre-zone for higher density, align utility upgrades or green space investments, deploy land value capture or walkability bonds, or staff up permitting or inspections to meet the demand.
Now we’re playing catch-up on everything from sidewalks to stormwater. The investment came, but the planning didn’t.
Take Scott’s Addition, one of the hottest real estate markets on the East Coast. An old industrial neighborhood has transformed into a breweries, apartments, and small businesses hub. It’s been labeled walkable thanks to its proximity to the PULSE line. But stand on the sidewalk, if you can find one.
You’ll see crumbling curbs, missing crosswalks, and almost no green space. The market saw the opportunity. Why didn’t the city?
National Models, Local Lessons
Across the country, forward-thinking cities are testing and proving new approaches for a civic revenue strategy:
Cincinnati, OH
Uses Tax-Increment Financing (TIF) — a tool that lets cities invest in infrastructure now, using the future tax revenue from the growth it helps generate. The payoff? More equitable development and relief for the general fund.
Minneapolis, MN
Passed city-wide upzoning despite predictable resistance by pairing bold zoning reform with proactive infrastructure planning. The result: real density gains, not just policy wins.
Tacoma, WA
It aligns affordable housing with walkability and traffic-calming investments from day one. It’s not just about building units; it’s about building neighborhoods.
Boston, MA
Transforms public housing into mixed-use communities by leveraging public land in public-private partnerships, where cities work with private developers to deliver public goods faster and more affordably.
Chattanooga, TN
Invests in smart infrastructure like gigabit internet and intelligent streetlights, tangible, visible returns that link innovation to everyday quality of life.
These are not fringe experiments. They’re the blueprint.
The Tools Exist. The Strategy & Coordination…Often Doesn’t.
This blueprint for cities includes these tools:
- Opportunity Zones, designed to drive capital into underinvested neighborhoods
- Tax-Increment Financing (TIFs), to unlock catalytic growth using future tax revenues, support affordability and infrastructure.
- Public-private partnerships, to expand delivery capacity without overextending the budget, connect public and private funding tools
- Public land, which can shape what gets built, where, and for whom
But using those tools requires more than knowledge; it demands coordination and alignment.
But You Can’t Build a Blueprint Alone
Most cities don’t fail because of a lack of ideas. They fail for lack of alignment.
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Planners manage zoning. TIFs are often run by economic development or finance departments. Public works oversees sidewalks. The utility department handles sewer and water. The transportation office reviews safety plans. And workforce development? Usually, a different agency altogether.
We’re not just missing tools. We’re missing collaboration.
The funding tools that enable abundance require strategic coordination across every city department. That doesn’t happen by default. It has to be designed.
It’s Time for a Civic Revenue Strategy Funnel
Here’s what a modern civic revenue strategy looks like:
1. Start with a Vision: A regional growth strategy rooted in equity, affordability, and climate resilience.
2. Bundle the Tools: Align land use, zoning, infrastructure investment, housing incentives, and tax policy to fund that vision.
3. Build the Team: Cross-functional working groups across planning, finance, transportation, and utilities.
4. Prep the Pipelines: Workforce development aligned to long-term capital needs (not just shovel-ready projects).
5. Capture and Reinvest: To sustain reinvestment, use land value increases, impact fees, and public-private partnerships.
This Is More Than Money. It’s About Delivery.
These tools aren’t just about balancing budgets. They’re about removing bottlenecks, speeding up permitting, creating walkable infrastructure, and delivering on housing goals.
They’re also about trust.
If residents see cranes in the sky but cracked sidewalks on their street, they lose faith in the system. They become NIMBYs not because they hate change, but because they fear being left behind by it.
Abundance will never win if it’s a zero-sum game. Cities must show how growth improves neighborhoods, not displaces them.
Let’s Plan for Where We Want Investment to Go
Too often, cities act like spectators to their own growth. A new project breaks, and then we consider permitting, sewer capacity, or school impact.
Why not flip it?
What if we planned where we want the investment to go, and prepared those areas with pre-approved zoning, environmental assessments, plans for upgraded utilities, and funding and incentive packages for green space and affordability?
That’s not wishful thinking. It’s how we speed up timelines, lower costs, and deliver equitable growth. It’s how we address the concerns of neighboring residents who fear that all this growth will leave them behind and not address their concerns.
To Deliver Abundance, We Need a Fiscal Strategy
The Abundance Agenda, championed by thinkers like Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, dares us to imagine more housing, clean energy, transit, and life. But abundance without a financing plan is just fantasy.
Cities need a multi-tool approach:
- Strategic land use
- Smart procurement
- Local revenue alignment
- Public-private partnerships
- Transparent community engagement
- Interdepartmental coordination
This isn’t about austerity or excess. It’s about alignment.
It’s Time for a New Civic Revenue Playbook
We can’t afford to keep planning transformation with the same tired funding tools. We need city budgets that match the ambition of the plans they’re supposed to deliver. If the 20th century was about paying for services, the 21st must be about investing in outcomes.
It’s time for cities to:
- Modernize and align revenue strategies
- Break down internal silos and plan for the future
- Communicate clearly what investments will deliver
- Show residents where their neighborhoods fit in the plan
Imagine if cities planned neighborhoods like Scott’s Addition with the whole playbook: pre-zoned density, walkability bonds, bundled utility upgrades, TIF-backed green space, affordability, and coordinated workforce pipelines.
That’s not a dream, it’s a Civic Revenue Strategy for Abundance.
Andreas Addison is the founder of Civic Innovator and a former Richmond City Councilmember. He has served on the National League of Cities' Board of Directors and held regional leadership roles with GRTC and the Central Virginia Transportation Planning Organization. This is the second in a series on how cities can implement the Abundance Agenda.
