Ordinance Window
Safety and Health Programs
Educational Programs
Promotional Programs
Other Programs
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The Ordinance windows is where community programs and city ordinances are
established and inspected. You can open the window to propose that an ordinance
be put up to a vote by your fellow commissioners by selecting Ordinance
from the Windows menu. In the Submit Ordinance to a Vote window, click on
any of the names of ordinances that you'd like to see enacted citywide.
After a period of time, the Election Day window will come onscreen for all
players, with the various proposed ordinances highlighted. (You may see
an onscreen time limit in which to vote.) Check the ones you want enacted
and hit the OK button, and a tally will be made among all players. If all
players agree to a specific ordinance, it will be enacted, and you'll soon
see a Voting Results window, with active ordinances checked.
You'll see the same "ordinances in effect" info when you click
on the Ordinances books in the Budget window; you can also vote for new
ordinances from here. Existing ordinances will remain in place unless they
are "called to vote" again through the Submit window by any player.
(If new ordinances have been proposed, you can also change your vote on
existing ordinances, and the Election Day voting window will reflect every
ordinance newly considered.)
You can examine which ordinances are in place and their costs by clicking
on the Ordinances books in the Budget window. There are five categories
of programs and ordinances: finance, safety and health, education, promotional
and other--they are explained below.
The cost or projected revenue will vary with the size and development of
your city. The Estimated Annual Costs (EST) for all programs is provided
in the lower-right corner of the window, next to the Year to Date (YTD)
total.
Click OK to close the Ordinance books.
Finance Programs
1% Sales Tax will add cash to your coffers, but may also inhibit local commerce.
1% Income Tax is a source of city revenues, but may discourage residential
growth, and even cause some tax-haters to move away.
Legalized Gambling can provide extra money that can be put to good use,
but brings with it an increase in crime.
Parking Fines are a small, steady source of the green, but tend to hinder
commercial growth a little.
Safety & Health Programs
A Volunteer Fire Department can be an economical way to fight fires in small
communities, but can't replace the professionals in a big city or during
a forest fire.
A Public Smoking Ban can increase the overall health level in your city
and eventually increase the average life expectancy, but will cost a small
fee to administer.
Free Clinics increase the overall health level in the city, but free clinics
aren't free--at least not to you.
Junior Sports increases the overall health level of the youth of your city.
Education Programs
A Pro-Reading Campaign will increase the overall education level in your
city, preparing it for an influx of new, high-tech industries.
An Anti-Drug Program can help reduce crime.
Providing CPR Training as a service to your Sims increases the overall level
of health in your city.
Police provides a Neighborhood Watch program to help reduce crime in residential
areas, but at a price.
Promotional Programs
Tourist Advertising may or may not pay off in bringing visitors with their
loose dollars to your fair city. If you do advertise for tourists, make
sure you have the right attractions, like marinas, stadiums, parks, zoos,
rivers, etc.
Business Advertising can bring new industry into town, but make sure you
can support the businesses with ample water, power, transportation, and
enough residential and commercial space to hold the influx of new citizens.
And low taxes won't hurt, either.
City Beautification increases residential desirability and land value.
An Annual Carnival can increase tourist trade and local commerce, and show
your Sims a darn good time. The size, cost and benefit of the carnival varies
with your city size.
Other Programs
Energy Conservation establishes an educational drive to conserve electricity
by, among other things, adding insulation to homes and water heaters. This
program takes a few years to ramp up to full effect, but will eventually
allow your power plants to power up to 15% more buildings.
Declaring your city Nuke Free costs nothing, but can make some of your citizens
feel safer, and may even attract new citizens to your fair town. It's a
small plus for residential desirability and a small minus for industry.
Homeless Shelters are expensive, but decrease the number of homeless people
and increase the number of residents, increasing the labor pool for commerce
and industry and marginally increasing land value.
Pollution controls slightly lower the amount of industrial pollution in
your city, but also make the city slightly less desirable to industry.
Year to Date and Estimated Annual Cost
These entries at the bottom-right of the Ordinance window summarize the
cost or income from each category, and gives both year-to-date and full-year
estimated totals.
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(C)1996, Maxis, Inc.
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