Logs tell stories, metrics aggregate health, traces show causality across services. SLOs tie them to user-visible reliability budgets and error budgets for feature velocity.

Start with revenue composition (tax vs non-tax), debt service, and capital vs current spending. Multi-year frameworks matter more than single-year headlines because many programs phase in slowly.

Metro regions need transport and housing coordination across municipalities. Fiscal transfers and special districts are common fixes when boundaries no longer match economic life.