PrepTest 118, Section 1, Question 26
Rapid population growth can be disastrous for a(46 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(6 more words not shown)
- ADuring budget shortages,(19 more words not shown)
- BNew residents of(14 more words not shown)
- CSome large cities(12 more words not shown)
- DA low unemployment(14 more words not shown)
- ENew residents of(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
More people means more work for the city. I can see how a sudden increase could overwhelm roads, garbage collection, and the people handling utilities and permits. Services can't necessarily expand as fast as the population does.
The author focuses on municipal employees. We need staff to serve all those new residents, and the existing budget won't allow immediate hiring. But don't the new residents bring tax money? More taxpayers could mean a larger budget, giving the city money to hire the people it needs. The added demand is only part of the picture if the newcomers also help pay for it.
What we’re looking for
We're asked to strengthen the warning about rapid growth. I'd look for a reason the extra residents won't supply the money needed to handle the extra workload. One possibility would be that city revenue doesn't rise with population. That would answer our objection, although we'd need evidence for it. Let's see whether an answer explains why the city cannot simply use new tax dollars to keep up.
Working the answers
- A
This tells us how a city allocates a limited budget: protect basic services and cut less essential ones. It doesn't establish why the arrival of new residents won't provide money to hire additional staff. Prioritizing one service over another also doesn't show that the prioritized service can handle the new workload.
- B
New residents may have plenty of ideas. The argument concerns whether the city has enough staff and money to serve them, not whether they have opinions about city government. B does not show that rapid growth overloads services.
- C
Our question is what happens to a small city. A comparison with some large cities doesn't explain why the small city's increased population would leave it unable to keep up. Even if a large city handles growth more easily, the small city might still handle it adequately. Easier elsewhere does not establish a disaster here.
- D
Why people move in doesn't establish what happens to the service budget once they arrive. A low unemployment rate might attract residents, but this answer doesn't tell us whether the city can hire enough municipal employees to serve them.
- ECorrect
The new residents need services now, but most small cities won't receive their city taxes for at least a year. That creates a delay between the extra demand and the extra money.
This is more specific than our prediction. The newcomers may eventually increase revenue; the trouble is that the revenue arrives too late to fund an immediate response. That helps explain how the city's existing budget could leave it understaffed during the rapid increase, even though its new residents will later contribute taxes.
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