You’ll Pay For This

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By (author): Michel Durand-Wood

Series edited by: Emma Durand-Wood

“If you’ve ever wondered why your city keeps cutting services while your taxes keep rising, this book is for you. With sharp analysis and a touch of humor, Mitch unpacks the financial realities behind failing infrastructure and declining city budgets. A powerful and much-needed wake-up call.” — Charles Marohn, Founder and President of Strong Towns

Cities provide valuable quality of life amenities like parks, pools and libraries. They’re also responsible for providing critical life-sustaining services, things like sanitation, public safety and clean drinking water. Vitally, they need to be able to do it not only today, but for generations to come. So how do we know if our city can afford to do this forever? And if not, what needs to change?

Most people have no idea what the answer is, or how to find it. But have no fear: help is on the way! Luckily, you can read this book while you wait for it to arrive.

Just kidding – you’re the help. (Or you will be after reading this book.)

You’ll Pay For This kicks off The City Project, a series edited by Emma and Michel Durand-Wood.

AUTHOR

Michel Durand-Wood

AUTHOR

Emma Durand-Wood

Reviews

If youve ever wondered why your city keeps cutting services while your taxes keep rising this book is for you With sharp analysis and a touch of humor Mitch unpacks the financial realities behind failing infrastructure and declining city budgets A powerful and muchneeded wakeup callltstrong style fontweight bold color rgb17 24 39 fontfamily Roboto Segoe UI GeezaPro DejaVu Serif sansserif applesystem BlinkMacSystemFont fontsize 14px fontstyle normal textalign start textindent 0px texttransform none whitespace normalgtCharles Marohn Founder and President of Strong Towns

With levity and comedic prose providing tasting notes similar to Douglas Adams Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy Michel provides what should be a mandatory read for any voting citizen While the prose maybe funny the content is anything butltstrong style fontweight bold color rgb17 24 39 fontfamily Roboto Segoe UI GeezaPro DejaVu Serif sansserif applesystem BlinkMacSystemFont fontsize 14px fontstyle normal textalign start textindent 0px texttransform none whitespace normalgtMichael Janz Edmonton City Councillor amp threeterm Public School Trustee

Cutting through the complexity and jargon of municipal finance Michel builds our understanding of why our cities and communities struggle and shows us how we can begin to turn this trend around Every citizen who loves their community and wants to see it thrive should read this book Every elected official who has campaigned on keeping taxes affordable or improving services should memorize itltstrong style fontweight bold color rgb17 24 39 fontfamily Roboto Segoe UI GeezaPro DejaVu Serif sansserif applesystem BlinkMacSystemFont fontsize 14px fontstyle normal textalign start textindent 0px texttransform none whitespace normalgtDuane Nicol CAO City of Selkirk

Forget dry textbooks Michels book makes municipal finance fantastique Its a fun informative adventure packed with humor a compelling case study and practical solutions for building thriving communities This is a mustread for anyone who cares about their citys future from council members to concerned citizensltstrong style fontweight bold color rgb17 24 39 fontfamily Roboto Segoe UI GeezaPro DejaVu Serif sansserif applesystem BlinkMacSystemFont fontsize 14px fontstyle normal textalign start textindent 0px texttransform none whitespace normalgtStephanie Ortynsky PhD amp Councillor City of Yorkton Saskatchewan

If youre fighting for more bike lanes better buses and beautiful parks in your city it all starts with understanding the nuts and bolts of municipal finance If you want to make a difference at city hall but are dissuaded by the inaccessible budget documents this book breaks it all down so that anyone can take meaningful action in their communities Budgets talk and fortunately for us Michel is here to translate them for us helping make municipal finance accessible to anyone and keeping the reader engaged from start to finish An essential municipal finance 101 for anyone who wants to make their city a better place to liveNicole Roach Chair Women in Urbanism Canada