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Finance

Managing public finance has become a demanding aspect of state and local government, especially as economic health fluctuates and outside forces create revenue instability. Articles on taxes, budgets, pensions and bonds help to bring insight to finance management at the state and local level.

The state will launch an alternative system where drivers are charged for each mile they drive. That might replace the gas tax, which hasn’t been updated since 2003. As of 2022, just 0.13 percent of the state’s vehicles were hybrid or electric.
As property values surge and tax bills go up, some state lawmakers are hoping to end the property tax. Doing so would not be cheap or easy.
Authorities known as industrial development agencies hand out nearly $11 billion worth of subsidies each year.
As the national debt continues to climb past $34 trillion, lawmakers are considering extending a broadband program that would drive inflation higher and deepen deficits, all while providing already-connected residents with Internet service.
Lawmakers hope grant and loan programs can help small towns keep their markets open.
Estimates increased $1.3 billion from projections released in December. The state also has about $2.9 billion in its rainy-day fund. However, officials warn of a potential $1.5 billion shortfall in the coming years.
Revenues are coming in slower, creating some shortfalls. Following recent boom times, even a bit of belt-tightening is going to come as a shock.
Billions of dollars in tax-sheltered municipal bonds are sold to fund stadiums and arenas that enrich team owners while fueling federal deficits. Local politicians can’t say no, but Congress should.
The 2023 legislation establishing the grant program also includes new equipment for rural sheriffs.
Adams State University, Fort Lewis College and Western Colorado University are hoping for $3 million per institution from the state to ensure access for students from less populous areas.
In 47 states, schools have a higher proportion of students from elsewhere than they did 20 years ago.
The state prison system’s medical provider, Wellpath, backed out of its contract with the Department of Corrections after spending millions in unanticipated costs, mostly due to prison violence.
Thousands of county officials came to Washington, D.C., to make the case with Congress that funding counties directly is the best way to improve lives across the country’s diverse rural and urban communities.
The Georgists advocated shifting the tax burden from buildings to land. Today that would face major political hurdles, but there might be variations on the concept that could spur housing development and discourage land speculators.
The new project aimed to modernize accounting, hiring and employee review, but for many, the overhaul has just added unnecessary frustration. The last time Idaho overhauled its processes to this extent was in the 1980s.
About 41,700 speeding citations were issued in 10 of the city’s school zones during the first three months of the program, which started in September. In one South Atlanta zone alone, more than 15,800 citations were issued.
State budgets are on track for modest growth even as federal fiscal recovery funds wane, pension underfunding persists and AI promises (or threatens) to change everything.
At least 19 states are directing money from Medicaid into housing aid and addressing the nation’s growing homelessness epidemic. Homelessness jumped last year to 12 percent nationally.
The top finance official in Massachusetts announced that the administration does not plan to downgrade revenue expectations through June or implement budget cuts, despite a recent drop in tax collections.
An analytic tool known as a long-term budget assessment can help states anticipate the fiscal challenges that lie ahead and change course in time to avoid them. Unfortunately, only a minority of states do this.
Washington provided $800 billion in pandemic relief. With most of that money spent, states now face major funding gaps for Medicaid, while school districts, child care providers and transit agencies are also struggling.
The state has settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of low-income students of color from Oakland and L.A. They claimed the state offered insufficient support for remote learning.
The industry paid the highest total of state and local taxes and state royalties last year in all of Texas history, breaking last year’s record by more than $1.5 billion. The taxes translate to $72 million daily for schools, roads, first responders and more.
Long-term financial incentives for investment success are commonplace in the private sector, but tricky to design in public retirement plans. The implementation challenges are structural, operational, methodological and, yes, political.
In 2022, Cook County, Ill., became the first local government to partner with the nonprofit group RIP Medical Debt to use private donor funds to buy up and forgive patient debt. Since then, seven local governments, including NYC, have joined the program.
Critics argue that schools are spending too much on administrative costs at the expense of instruction. One group found that administrative spending increased 6.3 percent from 2016 to 2021.
Locking up a California state prisoner for one year costs nearly twice as much as tuition at the state’s top private universities. The number surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, and remains high because of inmate medical costs and pay boosts for prison guards and other workers.
Providing guaranteed cash with no spending restrictions is massively expensive, and the public doesn’t support the idea. Policymakers should focus on reforms that maximize labor-force participation and make work more worthwhile.
The state ranked first nationally in 2022 with 458 hailstorms. Losses are most severe in Dallas County, which has $102 million in expected losses every year due to storm damage.
Nearly four years after the start of the pandemic, downtowns are still short of office workers and foot traffic. That's contributing to significant budget problems in some cities.
The governor wants to cut more than $1 billion from health-care services and eliminate 1,000 jobs, many of which are currently unfilled. DeSantis’ proposed budget falls $4.4 billion short of what state agencies and the Legislature have requested.