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.
Are vehicles like private equity, crypto and real estate a good fit for 401(k)-style public retirement plans — or too risky for savers? Marketers will soon be pitching these “alternative investments” to public employers. Prudence dictates caution.
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.
A former elections supervisor is alleged to have used election security funds to cover up personal spendings. Along with a lack of oversight, officials also have to sign nondisclosure agreements. “It’s political corruption.”
The state has spent $43 million suing the Trump administration, resulting in billions of dollars in savings. Since Trump took office, the attorney general’s office has filed over 90 lawsuits against the administration.
The state’s Census fund has more than $1.3 million that hasn’t been spent. Advocates want the money to be spent to encourage hard-to-count communities to participate in the 2020 Census as the Sept. 30 deadline draws near.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham defended her executive orders allowing up to $30 million in coronavirus response spending after a legislative inquiry questioned her authority to do so. Only $1.1 million has been spent so far.
President Trump remains opposed to a bailout for "poorly run states." The administration may end up agreeing to help, but warnings about dire spending cuts have not yet prompted action.
For local governments coping with the fiscal pressures brought on by the pandemic, it might seem that now is the time. But public leaders first should ask themselves some important questions.
The Legislature has approved an IT bond bill that aims to improve cybersecurity and technology use in several sectors. The bill includes $50 million for remote learning technology and $20 million for police body cameras.
Last February, Stockton, Calif., began providing 125 of its residents with a monthly payment of $500 as an economic experiment. Now the idea is gaining national traction as lawmakers see the benefits of stimulus payments.
Europe is heading in that direction. If the idea begins to catch on here, states and localities will need to be at the federalism policymaking table to share in the revenues.
Some states have put millions of relief dollars into unemployment insurance trust funds to keep business taxes as bay. But some think the money would be better spent directly assisting workers and local governments.
As Congress considers a possible second round of coronavirus relief funds, many companies are wondering about the efficiency of the Payment Protection Program if there were errors in their first round of loans.
Amid calls to reduce police funding, a recent report from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that in 2017, police spending per capita recovered to its pre-recession peak after years of steady increases.
