Local governments have opportunities to pursue entrepreneurial activities that take advantage of the assets they have to create more value for the community and financially strengthen the local government. Innovation, along with efficient execution of the idea to create new value for the public, is what we refer to as entrepreneurialism in local government. In this paper, we will illustrate entrepreneurial thinking using the City of Lancaster, California. Lancaster. We show how the city recognized it could parlay its existing assets (physical or otherwise) to create new revenue for the city and value for the public. The lessons from Lancaster’s experience are applicable to all local governments.

This paper is part of GFOA's Rethinking Revenue series.

• Publication date: December 2021
• Author: Shayne Kavanagh