scholarsmateqxf7 t1_iwzvss9 wrote on November 19, 2022 at 5:34 PM

Reply to comment by Ok-Difference-8696 in where does all the money from parking tickets go? by Ok-Difference-8696

GF is the "one big pot" that taxes and other income gets dumped into when it doesn't already have a purpose. So if the city gets a chunk of federal or state money that can only be spent on police or sidewalks (typically through a grant), that stays separate, but taxes like property, luxury, sales, etc gets put in the GF where the mayor proposes a budget that the council approves and goes to things like police and sometimes other stuff

Ok-Difference-8696 OP t1_iwzx88d wrote on November 19, 2022 at 5:44 PM

So for city budgets, is that information usually released publicly? I guess I'm generally curious about how the fund gets allocated and what kinds of things get positively affected by the money gained from fines, parking or otherwise.

I didn't even realize there was such thing as a luxury tax!

scholarsmateqxf7 t1_iwzy3co wrote on November 19, 2022 at 5:51 PM

The budget is public, yes, I'm sure it's on the website but I'm not at my computer rn to find it. Again, it's GF, so you won't be able to say "the parking money went to education," it gets boiled into one big money soup that gets split up into budget items regardless of where the dollars originally came from.

Luxury tax is what you pay every year if you own a car, RV, jet ski, etc, you also may pay it for individual consumer goods like tampons (🙄) or champagne.

Ok-Difference-8696 OP t1_iwzz0uk wrote on November 19, 2022 at 5:57 PM

Now that I know the name of what to look for, I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to find. Lol, money soup. So I guess there wouldn't be a way to tell how much goes in there from where, either, or it's a separate report?

Wait...tampons...a luxury? 🥲

scholarsmateqxf7 t1_iwzzyob wrote on November 19, 2022 at 6:04 PM

Funds like that typically get appropriated individually and without much fanfare. The budget MAY have a record or list of GF sources, but I haven't seen it so can't confirm. I know the parking fund is in the 5m range I believe?

Yes, tampons have historically been taxed as luxuries, along with a number of other feminine hygiene or just women-marketed products. Very cool and normal!