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.
Most states have seen their collections drop below 15-year trends. Federal actions may also provide a drag on revenue.
There isn't enough money there to significantly redress urban inequalities. The best way forward is to rethink law enforcement budgets for better policing and to de-fang unions that shield bad cops.
Mayor Jenny Durkan's move, made as the city faces a $300 million shortfall in 2020, has triggered criticism from some council members. The funds were to combat displacement and advance community equity.
The city council has approved $2.75 million from the city’s CARES Act funding to support Black business owners who weren’t eligible for aid from federal pandemic relief programs.
The rules the president has pushed through have successfully lowered immigration numbers to the lowest in decades, but many experts are concerned about the impact the restrictions will have on job growth and the economy.
The coronavirus pandemic encouraged Americans to begin relying more on fintech for things like check deposits and money transfers. As the change becomes permanent, some financial firms are having to catch up to the tech.
Fear of contagion en route is keeping travelers on the ground, crushing local businesses and regional economies. Airport authorities should band together to establish on-site rapid testing.
A Multnomah County study found that publicly funded broadband is too expensive to be feasible. Now the county must seek out cheaper, maybe less effective, options to ensure that every household has access to the Internet.
While some parts of the state’s economy have bounced back, economists have predicted that California’s unemployment rate will not return to it’s pre-COVID rate until late 2024.
Budget analysts fear the state will continue to lose approximately $450 million a year until 2025. More federal stimulus aid is needed if the state is to avoid devastating cuts to public services.
They employ millions of people and buy trillions of dollars in goods and services from the private sector. Congress and the White House should keep these numbers in mind as they debate pandemic aid.
Raising the cap on the federal deduction for state and local taxes while putting a lid on another tax break would benefit more taxpayers and the governments closer to them.
Gov. McMaster approved purchasing electronic poll books after South Carolina officials spent days looking for alternative ways to streamline voter check-in. Now, election clerks can begin distribution and training for November.
Due to federal funding, the state avoided the severe budget cuts that many feared at the height of the pandemic several months ago. The budget allocates nearly $18 billion for education and awaits Gov. Whitmer’s signature.
In 2021, there will be a new mayor, up to seven new commissioners and there won’t be a $1 billion boost to the Miami-Dade budget from the CARES Act. Many are worried about impending budget cuts.
A new proposed coronavirus aid package would be very similar to the one enacted in the spring: stimulus checks, renewed PPP funding and increasing unemployment benefit payments. Getting agreement in Congress remains a challenge.
Detroit projected an additional loss of $62 million and 50,000 jobs last week. Still, although the city needs to make adjustments to balance the budget, officials manage to remain optimistic: “It’s a solvable challenge.”
Sacramento, Calif., will begin redirecting money from the city budget into a new fund that the public will determine how to spend. But the fund won’t use money from the policing budget and it won’t be as large as planned.
More than 75 businesses received loans from the coronavirus small business relief program that appear to be fraudulent or ineligible for the program. One in every four businesses that received PPP loans in Florida have been flagged.
Caught between the Federal Reserve's new strategy for managing inflation and historically low bond yields, the plans now need to take a fresh look at their actuarial assumptions and inflation protection.
Lawmakers want to increase the budget by adding tax credits for immigrants, increasing COVID-19 outreach and encouraging businesses to hire workers while facing a projected $8.7 billion deficit for next year.
New York City has announced the possibility of laying off up to 22,000 municipal workers due to coronavirus cutbacks. Yet, the city is still maintaining $163 million in contracts with companies like Deloitte and KPMG.
In the absence of substantial pandemic aid from Washington, there might be a role for the central bank: longer-term loans. But let's not create another perpetual-deficit machine.
San Diego County adopted a $6.55 billion budget that it hopes will be enough to support the community through continued COVID response, predicted wildfires and ongoing issues like homelessness and affordable housing.
Gov. Charlie Baker has announced that the funds in grants will be put toward addressing food insecurities caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Some funds will be invested in technology to help producers distribute food.
Even with a 2 percent increase in total tax collections, Virginia is still 3.1 percent below the revenue growth predicted at the beginning of 2020. Now officials project there will be $2.7 billion less over the next two years.
Legislators voted to cut planned spending by about $400 million and tried to avoid cuts that would have lessened any matching funds from the federal government. Two prisons were spared the axe.
The proposed legislation would impact nearly 30,400 Californians and raise $7.5 billion for the state’s general fund. The tax would be 0.4 percent of net worth that exceeds $30 million for single and joint filers.
Fifty-two municipalities and 30 counties applied for a portion of New Mexico’s $150 million in federal coronavirus relief funding. Santa Fe hopes the money can help fund unemployment, business closures and other services.
Colorado municipalities have seen a $1 billion drop in retail sales between January and May, compared to last year. But for every city or town that has seen a retail decline, two have shown gains.
Some taxes are more impaired by the pandemic recession than others, and each jurisdiction is impacted differently, but many will still suffer revenue slumps into next year and even beyond.
