You'll Pay For This: How we can afford a great city for everyone, forever

"If you've ever wondered why your city keeps cutting services while your taxes keep rising, this book is for you. With sharp analysis and a touch of humor, Mitch unpacks the financial realities behind failing infrastructure and declining city budgets. A powerful and much-needed wake-up call." - Charles Marohn, Founder and President of Strong Towns
Cities provide valuable quality of life amenities like parks, pools and libraries. They're also responsible for providing critical life-sustaining services, things like sanitation, public safety and clean drinking water. Vitally, they need to be able to do it not only today, but for generations to come. So how do we know if our city can afford to do this forever? And if not, what needs to change?
Most people have no idea what the answer is, or how to find it. But have no fear: help is on the way! Luckily, you can read this book while you wait for it to arrive.
Just kidding - you're the help. (Or you will be after reading this book.)
You'll Pay For This kicks off The City Project, a series edited by Emma and Michel Durand-Wood.

Michel lives in the Winnipeg neighbourhood of Elmwood with his wife and three children, and he writes about infrastructure and municipal finance at DearWinnipeg.com. His writing has been featured extensively online and in print, including Strong Towns, Streetsblog USA, CBC, the Winnipeg Free Press and La Liberté .

ISBN: 9781773371344
Format: Paperback
Pages: 150
Publisher: Great Plains Publications
Published: May 20, 2025

"If you've ever wondered why your city keeps cutting services while your taxes keep rising, this book is for you. With sharp analysis and a touch of humor, Mitch unpacks the financial realities behind failing infrastructure and declining city budgets. A powerful and much-needed wake-up call." — Charles Marohn, Founder and President of Strong Towns"With levity and comedic prose providing tasting notes similar to Douglas Adams, "Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy", Michel provides what should be a mandatory read for any voting citizen. While the prose maybe funny, the content is anything but." — Michael Janz, Edmonton City Councillor & three-term Public School Trustee“Cutting through the complexity and jargon of municipal finance, Michel builds our understanding of why our cities and communities struggle and shows us how we can begin to turn this trend around. Every citizen who loves their community and wants to see it thrive should read this book. Every elected official who has campaigned on ‘keeping taxes affordable’ or ‘improving services’ should memorize it.” — Duane Nicol, CAO, City of Selkirk“Forget dry textbooks! Michel’s book makes municipal finance fantastique. It’s a fun, informative adventure, packed with humor, a compelling case study, and practical solutions for building thriving communities. This is a must-read for anyone who cares about their city’s future, from council members to concerned citizens.” — Stephanie Ortynsky, PhD & Councillor, City of Yorkton, Saskatchewan“If you’re fighting for more bike lanes, better buses, and beautiful parks in your city, it all starts with understanding the nuts and bolts of municipal finance. If you want to make a difference at city hall but are dissuaded by the inaccessible budget documents, this book breaks it all down so that anyone can take meaningful action in their communities. Budgets talk, and fortunately for us, Michel is here to translate them for us, helping make municipal finance accessible to anyone and keeping the reader engaged from start to finish. An essential ‘municipal finance 101’ for anyone who wants to make their city a better place to live.” — Nicole Roach, Chair, Women in Urbanism Canada