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.
Work requirements remain on the table but Congress will not cut the matching rate for the Affordable Care Act expansion or impose per capita limits on states.
The new system would create a centralized statewide voter registration database that could be implemented as soon as next year’s primary elections and aims to increase efficiency and consistency.
The agency has forgiven billions of dollars in student loans for borrowers whose schools closed before they finished their degrees, as part of an Obama-era program. Biden’s debt relief plan still awaits a decision from the Supreme Court.
BART and other transit agencies are budgeting the last of their pandemic-era federal relief and looking ahead to big, ongoing deficits. Solutions are still hard to find.
With a bond issue earmarked for community projects and marketed to individual investors as well as institutional buyers, Chicago is trying to move the needle on social equity. Is it the start of a durable trend, or just a cute public finance anomaly?
While the state doesn’t track who gets the biggest incentives, data shows that wealthy tech companies receive the largest breaks. However, the state often loses money on these economic development efforts.
Federal pandemic aid that has helped many rural hospitals stave off collapse is rapidly drying up. But the small town of Bowie is trying to save some of its health care services and may act as a case study for other rural areas.
The number of Black-owned banks has decreased from 48 in 2001 to just 20 now, four of which are in Atlanta. But to keep the institutions alive, Black banks need to modernize their services to keep up with other competitors.
Nearly 1.2 million residents applied or were automatically eligible to receive student loan forgiveness under the Biden administration’s relief plan. The forgiveness plan is currently on hold by a court ruling.
A 2018 report found that Vikrum Aiyer improperly billed the federal government for more than $15,000 of expenses. Aiyer has been nominated by San Francisco Mayor London Breed to help oversee the city’s homeless commission.
The legislation would create a flat state income tax rate of 2.75 percent, which would yield a larger tax break for the highest tax bracket, and would supplement the lost revenue by cutting $1.2 billion per year in state property tax rollbacks.
The Alaska budget attempts to address some of the state’s crises, such as the public defender shortage and a backlog of Medicaid and SNAP benefits applications, but the $400 million deficit is millions more than estimated.
The nation’s average productivity decreased 1.3 percent between 2021 and 2022, the largest decrease since 1974. The six most productive states also supply one-third of the country’s jobs and 40 percent of the U.S. GDP.
The state Senate passed two bills that would increase reporting requirements for state elections. Only one Republican voted in opposition. The bills will now be considered by the House of Delegates.
As polluters pay up for absolution, state treasuries and public pension funds might be able to capitalize on carbon offset credits. Public forests and timberland investments could yield untapped value.
The budget totals $50.5 billion for the two-year cycle and would add 6,400 housing units, allocate $100 million for first-time homeowners and additional millions for local schools. The proposal has been called “a good start.”
Republican state lawmakers dissolved a nonpartisan group that ensured tax dollars were properly spent in February 2021. But with tax revenues flush, it may be time to bring back the division.
The General Assembly will study the two-year budget that includes about 25 percent more spending annually than the current year’s budget, including $2.3 billion on roads and $717 million on bridges.
The town has a backlog of issues that must be addressed in the coming years, like increased service costs and city vehicle replacements. Officials are considering raising taxes by several cents to offset the costs.
By some estimates, the state will have $69 billion of “new money” to spend, but it is still unclear how the funds will be used, if it gets spent at all. This year’s proposed budgets don’t show much deviation from prior years.
The state’s Senate Finance Committee will look at transferring millions in federal COVID-19 funds to the Governor’s Office Gifts, Grants and Donations Fund, which already has more than $17 million.
State surpluses are up. So too are appetites for more spending and tax cuts. But inflation has reared its ugly head and the possibility of a recession is very real. Governing sorts out this year's financial picture.
If a congressional debt ceiling deadlock persists and capital markets seize up, states and localities will still have to pay their bills. Public financiers need to be ready to adjust their portfolios to establish a liquid cash buffer.
Last year, the state’s top 200 political donors shelled out nearly $16 million to statewide and legislative races while the 206,000 people who spent $250 or less gave a collective $13.5 million in donations.
The state government used more than half a million dollars of its $6.24 billion in COVID relief funds to buy SUVs to transport Gov. Phil Murphy and other officials around the state. Here’s how the rest of the money was spent.
Due to the state Legislature’s rush to fix an oversight in a previously passed property tax reform package, the property tax rollback rate is higher than it should be, which could mean relief for taxpayers and millions less for localities.
Officials in Kansas and Missouri worry that a federal default could severely disrupt a variety of government services that could cause local layoffs, jettison retirement funds, restrict Medicaid access and more.
Despite rising grocery prices, a little more than 1 in 10 Americans can’t get enough to eat, which amounts to around the same share of the country that was experiencing food insecurity before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bill would impose a new tax on the state’s “extremely wealthy” at rates of 1.5 percent and 1 percent for those worth more than $1 billion and $50 million, respectively. If passed, it could generate $21.6 billion for the state.
The $1.7 trillion spending bill that will fund the federal government through Sept. 30 includes hundreds of payouts for New Jersey municipalities’ projects, the largest of which will build an overpass along County Road 539.
A new federal law will eventually make some data searches and comparisons easier, but implementation will be a challenge. Software vendors will be staking their claims, but public-sector finance associations should take the lead.
