SimCity 4/Ordinances

As in real life, various ordinances are available to your disposal which can be enacted any time. Ordinances can be helpful in building up your city, if used right.

Ordinances will become available to you one month after starting up your city. Except for one, all ordinances cost money every month, so they must be chosen carefully.

Legalize Gambling

 * Cost to enact: none
 * Cost to retract: §20
 * Monthly income: §100

This ordinance earns you §100 every month, which makes it a great ordinance to enact in early game, where you'll be needing every dollar you can get. The only side effect to it is that it increases crime by 20%, which isn't much of a problem when your city is still small, but might prove to be more troublesome once it has grown.

This ordinance is also needed to be able to build the casino, should you for some reason want it in your city.

Community CPR Training

 * Cost to enact: §10
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §50, plus §0.005 per resident

This ordinance simply raises the health quotient in your city by 10%.

Water Conservation Program

 * Cost to enact: §10
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §50, plus §0.005 per resident

A simple one, this ordinance cuts down on water usage by 10%. The downside is it also puts a hit on industrial demand. Only use it if you run out of water and cannot afford to build a new tower/pump yet.

Paper Waste Reduction Program

 * Cost to enact: §20
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §20, plus §0.005 per resident

This ordinance reduces garbage by 10%, however it also reduces commercial office demand, which makes it a bad choice in late game.

Free Clinic Program

 * Cost to enact: §10
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §50, plus §0.005 per dollar spent in clinics.

This ordinance also raises the health quotient in your city by 10%.

Smoke Detector Program

 * Cost to enact: §10
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §0.001 per resident

This is a very cheap ordinance that reduces the rate of fire by 5%. Especially in early game, when your fire station coverage is still low, it is one of the better ordinances to choose.

Tourism Promotion Program

 * Cost to enact: §10
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §50, plus §0.005 per dollar spent in landmarks

This ordinance raises the commercial services demand. If you think you can afford it, it's a good ordinance to choose in early game to help spur commercial growth. You won't need it as much once your city progesses to commercial offices.

Power Conservation Act

 * Cost to enact: §20
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §0.005 per resident

As with the Water Conservation Act above, this ordinance lowers the power usage by 10%, but in turn lowers industrial demand. On top of that, it also lowers your Mayor Rating. Only choose it if you run out of power and can't afford a new power plant.

Carpool Incentive Program

 * Cost to enact: §10
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §50 + §0.010 per resident

Due to a bug, this ordinance doesn't have any effect at all. Needless to say, it should not be enacted.

Note: The above is incorrect. It does seem to have an affect at controlling air pollution from road traffic.

Commuter Shuttle Service

 * Cost to enact: §20
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §20 + §0.005 per resident

This ordinance alters the Sims' commute to make them use public transit more. It can be used to relieve high traffic, but enacting it only makes sense if you have a good and working public transit system.

Clean Air Act

 * Cost to enact: §20
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §20 + §0.005 per resident

This ordinance reduces air pollution by 10%, in turn it reduces dirty industry demand. This ordinance should be enacted in late game only, when dirty industry is no longer the base of your economy and reducing the air pollution is more important to get in high-wealth buildings.

Youth Curfew Act

 * Cost to enact: §10
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §40 + §0.002 per resident

This ordinance reduces crime by 5%, but also has a negative impact on your Mayor Rating. It should be enacted only when you get lots of abandoned buildings due to high crime.

Automobile Emission Reduction Act

 * Cost to enact: §20
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §20 + §0.005 per resident

This ordinance reduces air pollution by 10%, but hurts your Mayor Rating. Still, it can be used as an alternative to the Clean Air Act if you still depend on industry heavily.

Tire Recycling Program

 * Cost to enact: §20
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §20 + §0.001 per resident

This ordinance reduces garbage by 3%.

Nuclear Free Zone

 * Cost to enact: §10
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §50 + §0.002 per resident

After enacting this ordinance, you will be unable to build nuclear power plants, and existing ones will be shut down. It has a positive effect on the Mayor Rating, as well as a slight agricultural demand increase, but it also lowers high-tech industry demand. Due to its low and worthless effects, enacting this ordinance isn't worth it at all.

Pro-Reading Campaign

 * Cost to enact: §10
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §20 + §0.005 per dollar spent in libraries

This ordinance increases the education quotient by 10%. It's fine to enact if you need to boost your residents' EQ.

Neighborhood Watch Program

 * Cost to enact: §10
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §10 + §0.001 per dollar spent in libraries
 * Requirements: Police Station

You need a police station to be able to enact this ordinance. It reduces the crime by 5%, and due to its low cost, is worth getting.

Junior Sports Program

 * Cost to enact: §20
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §100 + §0.005 per dollar spent in parks
 * Requirements: Any park

Despite what the name suggests, enacting this ordinance reduces crime by 5%. It is quite expensive though, so only enact it if you really need it.

Landfill Gas Recovery Program

 * Cost to enact: §20
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §20 + §0.001 per resident
 * Requirements: Natural Gas Power Plant, Landfill

This ordinance reduces air pollution by 3%. However, due to its requirements, it is extremely situational, and you will only rarely actually encounter this ordinance.

Trash Presort Requirement

 * Cost to enact: §20
 * Cost to retract: §10
 * Monthly cost: §20 + §0.003 per dollar spent in recycling centers
 * Requirements: Recycling Center

This ordinance reduces garbage by 3%.