| Abstract: | Federal aid was not found to stimulate spending for cities inOregon during 1984–1989. Oregon cities relied primarilyon their own-source revenues to finance spending increases.The exception was capital spending, where receipt of federalaid in 1989 positively influenced the rate of spending change.This most likely reflected lower spending by those cities thatdid not receive competitive federal grants. The amount of federalaid received is greatly influenced by the grants skill availableto the community. Growth in total direct current spending wassignificantly associated with increases in user fees and charges.A closer look at specific spending categories revealed a hierarchyof reliance on cities' own-source revenues. Cities increaseduser fees and other benefit charges where possible, and seeminglyonly resorted to property-tax increases when these other revenueswere inappropriate. |
