Question

The corrosion of trust is apparent when community members do not readily support bonds or elections to capital improvements. What can be done in those instances to repair public trust?

Answer 1

To repair public trust with regards to bonds elections the concerned public agency or the government should develop a proper system for bond payments. Bond payments should come from the government’s (in case of state government) general fund. Bonds are a form of non-general obligation debt and hence payment should be done from a stream of a dedicated revenue source like sales tax.

Secondly community members should be apprised of the need for bond election. They should be informed that expenses towards capital improvements cannot be financed through ordinary revenue streams like sales tax revenues, income tax revenues and property tax revenues.

Thirdly bond elections should mostly take the form of referenda in order to be able to repair public trust. When voters are asked to approve the payments of the bonds through a dedicated source of revenue then they will have a higher level of confidence and their trust will be repaired.