Ways to avoid the deficit?

[Ayaka]

One thing I seem to really struggle with at present is always being in negative income. A lot of it seems to come from utilities maintenance or something, and I'm not sure how to handle it. I also notice we seem to import a lot of resources for industry. Do any of you people who are far smarter than me know how I can finally get my finances in the green?

[Aeggil]

Once you get to around milestone 7/10k pop it seems (to me) you'll end up green for income...until then it seems the government subsidies and milestones keep you going if you're careful.

I also wonder if having less services will help for a while, but I can't help want want my peeps to be happy lol

[Jon]

Yeah I'm on my second city now and neither went into the green until about the 12-15k population range. You could try turning down service funding until your population grows. Don't neglect specialized industries either, producing your own goods rather than importing will result in more tax income from industry, since industry is taxed on profits.

[Eltoron]

It's totally ok to be in red for a while. Because your service use budget ineffective (they are too big to small starting town). Also don't rush with services and upgrades. You don't need hazardous trash facility at your landfill at the start or college in a village with only 2k population. It's ok to have only elementary school small police and fire stations etc without high upkeep upgrades and to be slightly in red. Grant from mailstones will mitigate losses. Later you will returt to black if you don't waste money too much. *selling excess power if you have cost efficient powerplant also a good idea, my geothermal plant with only 2k$ per MWt gives me a nice net profit

[Overeagerdragon]

Originally posted by Aeggil:

Once you get to around milestone 7/10k pop it seems (to me) you'll end up green for income...until then it seems the government subsidies and milestones keep you going if you're careful.

I also wonder if having less services will help for a while, but I can't help want want my peeps to be happy lol

As long as you're still building low density you can easily skip on services or the fees for them... as soon as you hit Medium or High density you better have them in place though... you can really cripple a medium zone by not having enough services

[Videogame Jukebox]

bump tax to 11%. no one cares lol.

[Overeagerdragon]

Originally posted by Names Matter:

bump tax to 11%. no one cares lol.

For not owning the game you sure have some bad advice... 11% will net you a -1 on happiness across the city... causing people to be LESS likely to move in or worse; move out

[Billy_Bligh]

Stick tax to 11%. I started switching between profit/loss around 2.3k citizens, but that's without building police. I have stone industry, one school, fire station and healthcare, rubbish collection and 3 wind turbines. Citizens keep asking for medium density buildings.

[Videogame Jukebox]

Originally posted by Overeagerdragon:

Originally posted by Names Matter:

bump tax to 11%. no one cares lol.

For not owning the game you sure have some bad advice... 11% will net you a -1 on happiness across the city... causing people to be LESS likely to move in or worse; move out

lol that -1 means nothing. and the increase in income out weighs it. But thanks for your opinion.

[That Spaceman Spiff Guy]

I never messed with my taxes and left them at the default. But if you know how to budget and penny pinch, you're getting into green territory by 5K to 10K mark.

Basically, I never bought a power plant until I started going over 20MWz since the import price started escalating quickly. I did not buy a lot of expensive facilities/utilities for a while so that the reward money was plentiful (above 1M for a while and I'm at almost 6M while being at 11K citizens) while I was stabilizing my income - that way if I have a deficit, I won't go below $0, ever. I pop in healthcare first and then move to schools (elementary for a while since most jobs don't require well-educated for some time). The sweet spot for a lot of development seems to happen around 7500 to 10K people as I'm plopping down a lot now and it's growing rapidly.

So, gauge the cost and see what you budget is running and decide whether that's a good buy long-term or not. Try not to put the cart before the horse.

[mpmivo]

Im green now, 4 - grand village? Go for alot of industry. Including field, livestock, wood, as soon as you unlock them.

[Videogame Jukebox]

i have max happiness and its always green arrow and going up... i have no issue raising taxes. ever.

[Videogame Jukebox]

@ 12% you start getting complaints in t twit. @ 13% people bounce.

[Overeagerdragon]

Originally posted by Names Matter:

@ 12% you start getting complaints in t twit. @ 13% people bounce.

The tweeter is unreliable AF; I have 100% healthcare coverage at 110% service fee, the whole city is green, no ambulance in sight, all hospitals and clinics fully staffed.... and people complain about rising deaths and low health (appalling servicecare)

Click a building instead and hover over the emoticon in the infograph; you'll see that even a 1% tax increase lowers their happiness by 1% which means their houses upgrade more slowly...

[Videogame Jukebox]

Originally posted by Overeagerdragon:

Originally posted by Names Matter:

@ 12% you start getting complaints in t twit. @ 13% people bounce.

The tweeter is unreliable AF; I have 100% healthcare coverage at 110% service fee, the whole city is green, no ambulance in sight, all hospitals and clinics fully staffed.... and people complain about rising deaths and low health (appalling servicecare)

Click a building instead and hover over the emoticon in the infograph; you'll see that even a 1% tax increase lowers their happiness by 1% which means their houses upgrade more slowly...

Like I said, the increased income outweighs that. I dont need everything level up right away and the increased income builds your city. its basic eco 101. Do you need to be somewhere where you cant wait that extra 10 minutes? or whatever it is?

[Overeagerdragon]

Originally posted by Names Matter:

Originally posted by Overeagerdragon:

The tweeter is unreliable AF; I have 100% healthcare coverage at 110% service fee, the whole city is green, no ambulance in sight, all hospitals and clinics fully staffed.... and people complain about rising deaths and low health (appalling servicecare)

Click a building instead and hover over the emoticon in the infograph; you'll see that even a 1% tax increase lowers their happiness by 1% which means their houses upgrade more slowly...

Like I said, the increased income outweighs that. I dont need everything level up right away and the increased income builds your city. its basic eco 101. Do you need to be somewhere where you cant wait that extra 10 minutes? or whatever it is?

The increased income you get from that right then and there does not outweigh the reduction in growth you'll experience.... if it works for you that's fine, I'm hardly the one to tell you how yoou should play the game but imho; population growth is more people to BE taxed rather than less people being taxed that 1% more...

Just a different playstyle I guess...