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MAPS, or Metropolitan Area Projects Plan, is a multi-year, municipal capital improvement program, consisting of a number of projects, originally conceived in the 1990s in Oklahoma City by its then mayor Ron Norick. A MAPS program features several interrelated and defined capital projects, funded by a temporary sales tax (allowing projects to be paid for in cash, without incurring debt), administered by a separate dedicated city staff funded by the sales tax, and supervised by a volunteer citizens oversight committee. In some ways, a MAPS program is similar to a Local option sales tax. However, taxes collected by a MAPS program do not go to a city's general fund, but are instead deposited into a trust dedicated to the specific projects identified in the taxes' enabling ordinance. Additionally, MAPS programs are only indirectly controlled by a city's elected governance body; a citizens oversight committee provides direct oversight, which is also established by the enabling ordinance. ==Features of a MAPS Program== The key features of the original program were designed to provide accountability to the citizens of the community as well as provide a funding mechanism for capital projects without using a city's general revenue funds, and included: * Several capital projects, each designed to appeal to a variety of demographic groups within the city, while at the same time having “those projects geographically close to each other to create a synergy of activity for people.” * The overall program would be funded by a dedicated, multi-year sales tax with a start date and end date * Projects would be paid for in cash, without incurring debt; with this "pay as you go" approach, construction does not start until the cost of the project has been collected and money is in the bank * The Program would be overseen by a volunteer citizens advisory committee, whose recommendations for architects, plans and construction documents, contractors, and change-orders would be forwarded to city council for approval * Projects would be administered by a separate and dedicated city staff, hired specifically for the term of the program, with salaries and expenses a component of program costs, paid from sales tax revenue * Each project would be allocated an endowment sufficient to operate and maintain the building without additional cost to the city's general fund A common challenge of "pay as you go" programs such as MAPS is that, because the lead-up time while accumulating the needed funds can be lengthy, specific projects of the program "are often are scuttled when administrations change and new leaders want their own signature projects... Oklahoma City was able to avoid this pitfall ‹because the city› changes mayors, but not strategies."〔 (【引用サイトリンク】 title=Placemaking Chicago: Oklahoma City ) 〕 Because the voters approved a multi-year temporary sales tax that was dedicated to multiple specific projects that together had significant public support, and because the infrastructure to support the program and its projects was also temporary with dedicated funding from the sales tax, a change in elected officials has not been sufficient to change the scope of the program. A key to success is the feature of multiple projects; while each project taken individually might not have sufficient support for individual funding, when taken as a group, the package has sufficient support for funding. Said another way, it is important to "bundle projects to enhance community buy-in."〔 〕 Another benefit of multiple projects is that by staging the projects, citizens may have their confidence level increased by being shown staggered "early results ‹with less expensive projects› ... by experiencing a string of groundbreakings."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Metropolitan Area Projects Plan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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