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 city’s finance department has grown 35 percent since 2019 and the cost of internal-facing departments have increased by 50 percent. Seattle’s total budget is currently $7.8 billion.
Due to an expected $1 billion shortfall, the Healey administration has wiped out $1.7 million in fire-fighting earmarks this week. Some towns will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding.
In a large majority of states, low- and middle-income residents pay an effective tax rate that's higher than top earners, a think tank finds.
So far, seven states have passed laws approving the use of Medicaid funds to pay for community-based programs intended to stop shootings. But unlocking the funds is complicated and it's unclear how much money will actually be diverted.
Across the nation, state transportation agencies are warning that public safety is at risk if lawmakers don’t overhaul how road maintenance gets funded. Some states are proposing new taxes and fees.
While home insurance rates and utility prices have increased across the country, Texas has been hit especially hard since its historical winter storm three years ago. Experts expect increases to continue.
More than $5.8 billion of the $7.8 billion in federal funds awarded to Illinois schools since March 2020 has been spent. In Chicago, the school system faces a $391 million shortfall for the 2024-25 school year.
As inflation and interest rates ease, 2024 will be a perfect time for overdue multiyear strategic planning and keeping up with breakthrough information technologies.
‘Are we going to revert back to “normal?” No, we will have a new normal.’
The state's projected $68 billion shortfall for the coming fiscal year represents a big challenge. Still, California’s deep reserves can reduce the burden.
The proposed bill would charge electric vehicle owners $290 a year to supplement decreased revenue lost from the state’s gas tax. It is estimated the fee would generate as much as $20 million annually for the state.
States and localities may have hidden treasure in their data that can be profitably unearthed by commercial interests. Governments need to be able to realize the value of their data while still protecting the public.
The federal government promised $23 million to assist with recovery efforts after Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc on 49 schools and nine colleges and universities across the state. Many are still waiting for those funds.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislators this year made budget cuts and deferred spending as a way to address the $31.5 billion spending gap. But, as tax revenues were delayed by winter storms, the gap has grown to $68 billion.
In what seems to be a coordinated effort between the governor, attorney general and secretary of state, six lawsuits challenging voter-approved property tax cuts and increases to teachers’ pensions have been blocked.
The nation grew at a 5.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter of this year, but several factors indicate that a number of states are not seeing the same trends. The preliminary unemployment rate rose in 38 states.
Despite job gains moving at their slowest pace since 2011 and extreme stress in commercial real estate, Colorado managed to stave off a recession this year. Many are wondering whether it can keep an economic downturn at bay again next year.
In 2021, the state’s surplus was $3.7 billion and a year later it had grown by nearly another $3 billion. Now with $16 billion reserved, it’s likely that increased spending will occur in next year’s session.
An audit of the county’s new system found lax oversight of raises and more than $3 million in overpayments to employees, which could take decades to fully reimburse.
Office workers’ exodus should be countered with wiser state and federal tax incentives, and there’s a novel municipal bond angle to promote. But cities themselves must step up to stem the urban maladies that feed public fears.
The proposed legislation, which is waiting for a signature from the Texas governor, could cost taxpayers almost $380 per arrest if unlawful entry into the country by undocumented migrants becomes a state law and is locally enforceable.
Brandon Johnson had previously critiqued how the city has used a tax structure that relies on property taxes, fines and fees, and yet his 2024 proposed budget counts on $46 million more in fines and fees than this year.
The state’s Constitution forbids government entities from providing a good, service or property without an equitable return, but Georgia has learned to leverage “bond-for-title” deals and “phantom bonds” to incentivize businesses.
Rapidly developing AI-powered technology is making it easier to appropriate the public sector's financial information for proprietary uses. Businesses that slice and dice this data should be renters, not owners.
The program also includes more funding for special education, teacher retention, per-student allotments and would revamp virtual education and public school accountability. But it would cost billions to implement.
Preliminary data, which is current through Sept. 30, shows that more than 6,079 residential property and personal motor vehicle claims were filed for losses in West Maui and Upcountry Maui.
The City Council is considering implementation of a pilot program that would reinvest metered parking fees back into a neighborhood for transportation-related improvements. The program would be tested in Roslindale Village.
Twenty bank branches closed across the city this year through Oct. 28, which is more than the previous two years combined and the most in a single year since at least 2000. Across the state, 277 bank branches have closed this year.
City officials have until Nov. 1, 2024 to submit a plan to the state as to how they will close the $3 billion shortfall and have the system fully funded by 2055, but it remains unclear how officials will do so.
Halloween seems an apt metaphor for what state and local financiers will encounter over the next year and beyond: plenty of tricks but a modest supply of treats.
Proposition 4 could usher in a bevy of property tax changes for homeowners and businesses. If passed, the measure includes using $12.7 billion from a record state budget surplus to lower school district taxes. Unanswered is the proposition’s affordability.
