Grade 5 Social Studies · nothing is recorded

You are the town council. Spend the money.

A municipality’s money comes mostly from property tax on every household, and every municipal service — roads, water, police, buses, garbage, parks, the library — comes out of that one pot. Slide the shares. Every extra dollar for one service is a dollar less for another, and the shares must add to 100. Numbers are simulated.

Households in the town

Property tax per household

The whole budget$30,000,000households × tax

Shares add to100 %balanced

Where it goes

Roads and snowplows

Water and sewers

Police and fire

Buses

Garbage and recycling

Parks and recreation

Library

Roads and snowplows: $6,600,000 · $660 per household
Water and sewers: $5,400,000 · $540 per household
Police and fire: $7,200,000 · $720 per household
Buses: $3,600,000 · $360 per household
Garbage and recycling: $2,400,000 · $240 per household
Parks and recreation: $3,000,000 · $300 per household
Library: $1,800,000 · $180 per household

Budget balanced

Try doubling parks: something else has to fall, and the council meeting where people argue about which is what municipal politics is. Health care and schools are not on this list because they are provincial — jurisdiction decides which pot pays (B3.2).