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.
But tariffs and deportations threaten economic damage in the Southeast United States.
The federal agency determined the state was ineligible for nearly $12 billion in federal grants for public transit. Officials fear that this loss of funding could be detrimental to transit agencies.
After a long wait, the federal infrastructure bill is headed toward President Joe Biden's desk. How can states and local areas take advantage of the $65 billion set aside for broadband? Here are some details.
The $1.2 trillion infrastructure package will give billions to the state in new spending over the next five years. Large swaths of the money will be used to upgrade Alaska’s outdated infrastructure.
The COVID recession and its fiscal aftermath should remind politicians, advocates and labor that budget reserves are not piggybanks for new discretionary spending. Economic cycles have not been repealed.
A newly launched Gender Equity Dashboard shows that the gender pay gap increased by 6 percent between 2016 and 2019 and experts are worried the pandemic has only worsened the divide.
The St. Louis County administration building in Clayton, Mo., requires a $50 million investment to meet current fire codes. It might be cheaper just to demolish the building and move to a new location.
While experts assure inflation levels are not yet deemed hyperinflation, Florida businesses of all kinds are still feeling the impacts of a 5.4 percent increase in prices from last year. But relief could come by mid-2022.
Mayor Ted Wheeler will seek $400,000 to hire back 25 recently retired officers to fill vacancies and $2.6 million for body cameras and a civilian dean of police training. The City Council will vote on the proposal in late November.
Detroit has spent less than $80,000 of the more than $826 million in COVID-19 relief funds it received; the state had spent none of its $6.5 billion by the end of July. Many blame politics for the slow spending.
The city’s Finance Committee has rebuffed three budget amendments that would have redirected $750,000 of the police department’s budget to fund a newly established team of mental health first responders.
Pending municipal finance provisions in the big spending bills before Congress could benefit issuers, investors and taxpayers. To get the best deal, state and local leaders must press their case immediately.
California school districts have two choices: Bite the bullet and make budget cuts now, or delay them and face even more painful decisions.
While some funding will go to update Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport’s existing infrastructure, the majority of financial investments will build new office and research spaces. Construction will begin in July 2022.
Whether you pay tax on your Halloween treat supply depends on which state you live in and how it defines candy.
Going into next year, the Fed is likely to throttle back policies that have kept rates near zero. That presents opportunities — and risks. Nobody wants to repeat the local government fiscal disasters of not so long ago.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was created to provide relief to public employees who worked a service job for 10 years. The Biden administration announced a program overhaul to help it finally meet its intent.
The pandemic sent municipal revenues into a tailspin. They still haven't fully recovered, but $65 billion from Uncle Sam is easing a lot of pain.
Less than 60 percent of the state’s 1,781 townships have requested their share of the American Rescue Plan Act funds. Treasury Department officials are urging local governments to apply for funds before the Oct. 4 deadline.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has issued a notice to lawmakers that they cannot use the state budget to restrict the funds of local health departments that institute local mask mandates; doing so would violate the state constitution.
The increase is the first in a series that will eventually raise the state’s wage to $15 an hour. The wage raise is the first in the country to be approved by ballot measure, which was passed by 61 percent of voters.
As state and local debt continues to rise, governments may be forced to raise taxes or cut spending to control their budgets. New York has the most per capita government debt, largely due to school district debts.
The state has already spent $200 million over its emergency fund budget for the entire fiscal year that started in July. While some of the bill will be paid by state agencies, taxpayer dollars will also be used.
With billions in grants about to start flowing from Washington, they will need comprehensive, timely information on what’s available. They shouldn’t have to wait for the feds to supply it.
State, local, territorial and tribal entities have used $150 billion from the Coronavirus Relief Fund — part of the CARES Act — for many things. But with the Dec. 31 deadline approaching, some still have a lot left.
Leaders of several state agencies are seeing large pay increases compared to their predecessors, some getting boosts in the tens of thousands. Officials say they’re trying to achieve parity as compared to other states.
The city will visit 20,000 households that experienced backups and flooding in June to provide temporary fixes while the water department develops a plan to rebuild aged infrastructure.
CalPERS has yet to recover the approximately $42 million in pension payments to 22,000 dead people, according to an internal audit. About 1,800 CalPERS recipients die each month, and the agency isn’t immediately notified.
The City Council has voted to redistribute funds from approximately 200 police officer departures and reinvest it in technology projects and other department needs. $3 million will be used for community-based public safety programs.
Despite predictions that COVID-19 would crush state tax revenues, most of them didn’t need megabillions in pandemic aid to balance their budgets. But for the most part they seem to be spending the money wisely.
Government chief information officers know that building an IT agency that can withstand any challenge means learning how to both do more with less and also exercise restraint when there’s a windfall.
