If, in a city with sharply declining population, police protection and water line maintenance do not deteriorate, some other service previously provided by the city will deteriorate or be eliminated.

If a city's tax rates are held stable over a period of time, neither the population nor the levels of city services provided will tend to decline over that period.

If a city's population declines sharply, police protection and water line maintenance are the services that deteriorate most immediately and most markedly.

A city that suffers revenue losses because of a sharp decline in population can make up some of the lost tax revenue by raising tax rates, provided the city's tax rates are low in relation to those of other cities.

A city that is losing residents because tax rates are perceived as too high by those residents can reverse this population trend by bringing its tax rates down to a more moderate level.