The sales tax revenue implications and administrative efficacy of Colorado municipal home rule

This dissertation examines the contemporary impact of municipal home rule on municipal sales tax revenue and on municipal policy as viewed by administrators. It tests whether municipal home rule authorities in Colorado augment sales tax revenues and if municipal administrators believe those authorities enable a municipality to operate more effectively, efficiently and with more citizen involvement.;There are two research questions in this study. The first is: Do Colorado's home rule municipalities generate more sales tax revenue than their statutory counterparts? The second is: Is there a relationship between home rule and municipal efficiency, effectiveness, and democratic values as viewed by municipal administrators? The research questions lead to a two-part research design. This study first uses multiple regression to analyze the relationship between sales tax revenue and home rule. This study then uses a multiple case study design to broaden the financial research and further demonstrate the relationship between home rule and municipal efficiency, effectiveness, and democratic values.;This study finds Colorado home rule municipalities do not generate more revenue than their non-home rule counterparts and demonstrates Colorado home rule municipalities are able to ameliorate service to their residents as perceived by municipal administrators. This finding was unanticipated as home rule municipalities have broader financial authority and municipal officials believe home rule augments their revenue; three reasons for this finding are the impact of state mandates on home rule municipalities, the mollification of additional home rule revenue by municipal policy decisions to reduce non-home rule revenues, and the insignificant level of home rule based policy revenue relative to total municipal revenue. The study concludes Colorado's home rule municipalities remain dependent on the state.