Better check the local revenue-expenditure packages next time...

A recent news article from Obion County, Tennessee, describes the frustration and anguish felt by Gene Cranick as he watched his local fire department officials watch his house burn down. Unbeknownst to Cranick, the city in which he lives does not consider protection from fires from firefighters to be a public good – that is, they found a simple way to exclude their services. The local council in South Fulton, Tennessee felt that it was prudent to annually charge its citizens $75 dollars in exchange for protective and emergency response services from the fire department. Oddly enough, the firefighters responding to the fire at the Cranick household refused to assist him in putting out the fire, which he was grossly underequipped to quell, seeing that the home-owner was only armed with a meager garden hose. Once the fire spread to Mr. Cranick’s neighbor’s yard however, the firefighters did their best to put out the flames. Even though the Cranick family offered to pay any sum of money they request, both the emergency services department as well as the fire chief refused to make an exception to the rule regarding the $75 fee for firefighting services. This story goes to show you just how many individual and local preferences can vary from locale to locale and how this makes it extremely difficult to pinpoint individual’s preferences. Thus, Tiebout’s theory of individuals revealing true preferences via moving into various locales, each with its own specific revenue/expenditure package, is exemplified by the aforementioned article, other than the assumption that all citizens have full information (regarding revenue/expenditure packages of all municipalities) prior to moving in. Needs and desires vary tremendously across various municipalities, each consisting of a unique demographic, thus making it believable that people can truly demonstrate a wide-range of preferences according to where they live. All in all, the fact that such a news story was published demonstrates our need for local governments to fine tune legislation according to the needs and desires of their constituents. I was under the impression that all Americans had the right to summon fire fighters, should the need arise; however, clearly a city full of people (minus Gene Granick) in Tennessee were in favor of legislation stating otherwise. Moral of the story – go over the local revenue & expenditure packages with your realtor prior to moving.