The Path-Goal Paradox: Navigating Demographic and Dollar Disparity in Municipal Planning

Carter Gallagher and Joe Parker

Background        

The City of Grassley has a population problem: more and more citizens (over 60%) are above the age of sixty-five as assessed value of property has increased 35-50%. These demographic and economic changes are putting pressure on the city to a point that the city council is holding a community forum. In order to register for the event, citizens must focus on one of two issues, property valuation or encouraging young people to live, work, and own homes in the community. For the city administrator, they must provide concrete solutions/options for combatting BOTH problems within the community. Despite the value of property valuations increasing, the city administrator and city council must balance the demographics to make the city more accessible to young citizens, while maintaining support from senior citizens.

While there is precedent for opposition to assessed property values, the city has the obligation to both senior and younger citizens to provide an equitable solution. On one hand, the city can motivate younger citizens to own property through suburban development, community housing (apartment complex), and tax incentives. On the other hand, the city can focus on the largest portion of citizens by maintaining property values and taxable income, in order to provide more services for the entire community. In all, the balance of demographics and property valuations is key to the success of the city.

Technical

 The technical constraints of this case have to do with population demographics, property value, and future goals. The population of the city largely consists of senior citizens (60%) posing a unique dilemma for the administration in the sense there is a real chance of disillusionment amongst them. In order to combat this, the leader must understand the technical variables including property valuations, and population demographics. The technical aspects of increasing the housing supply while maintaining property valuations demands the city administrators prudence when making changes. While the community forum will provide consensus amongst the citizens, the administration has the task of bringing the community to a solution that will benefit both parties. The technical variables include property valuation, tax revenue, population demographics, and community cohesion.

Conceptual

One of the city administrator's problems is to manage cultural and social resistance among older residents who may oppose suburban development, new apartment complexes or tax incentives aimed toward younger people. Some seniors in the town value preserving the town's traditional character, while attracting youth requires modernization and expansion.

The city administrator has to maintain the tax base while making the city affordable for younger families and workers. Keeping property values high benefits seniors but can price out younger buyers. Lowering property taxes or offering incentives may reduce city revenue. Regardless of the city administrator’s focus, the dangers of dividing one’s attention to a specific group could have dire consequences.

Human

The city's challenge is not only economic or technical, it is human. The senior residents may fear losing the character and stability in their community while the younger residents may feel priced out or unwelcome, which can create frustration and disdain from the beginning. There also may be a certain level of distrust between age groups between citizens and the administration. Change brings uncertainty, anxiety and emotional resistance even if not always logical. To handle these few problems the administrator must choose how he is going to lead.

Path-Goal Theory Discussion Questions

• How might empathy reduce certain groups' fear of change while increasing community satisfaction?
• How can citizen participation play into path-goal theory? What obstacle could be cleared with this approach?
• How might path-goal leadership play into the collaborative process in this case?
• How can the leader use different groups' resistance to increase collaboration and communication?
• What aspects of participative/collaborative leadership can be used in this case? Why?
• How can the path be cleared for groups to see demographic change as a positive?
• How might achievement-oriented leadership help or hinder the administration/city’s goals?

License

This case study is licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.