County general fund balances: an exploration into the policies, requirements, size and purposes of county general fund reserves

This dissertation establishes a national exploration into the subnational fiscal policies of the United States at the county level of government. This dissertation begins a dialog about county fiscal practices and examines budget stabilization policies of county governments across the country and studies how county governments are codifying the action of setting funds aside for use during times of need. The study moves from the descriptive analysis of counties and explore quantitatively the effects of county government general fund balances and reserve practices over time and documents the reserves, revenue and expenditures of 43 counties across the United States over a five-year period, fiscal years 2012-2016 and utilizes a panel data, fixed-effects model taking into account the political, policy and service-bundles of the counties. Finally, the use of cash rather than debt for capital expenditures also known as pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) is explored through a case study of Maricopa County, Arizona. It examines the theoretical question of intergenerational equity in the funding of capital assets. The study examines Maricopa County's technical, administrative and political pillars of PAYGO, analyzing the financial and budget documents as well as presentation materials given in public meetings regarding the economic and financial condition of both the county government and the county.