Some Measurement Criteria for Community Service Output and Costs: The Case of Fire Protection in Texas*

Fredrick J. Hitzhusen

Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 1973, vol. 5, issue 1, 99-107

Abstract: Considerable use has been made of per capita (or per unit of income) expenditures of various community or local government services to indicate size economies and inter-community service quality and fiscal effort differentials. Indiscriminate use of these per capita measures (particularly those including only operating expenditures) may lead to very questionable policy recommendations on local government consolidation, state and federal grant-in-aid formulas, etc. Many related public and private costs are not included in most per capita expenditure data. In addition, expenditure figures are seldom adjusted for price or service “quality” differentials between governmental units.

Date: 1973
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