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.
States are expecting flat revenues and increasing costs in this new fiscal year. They’ll face hard choices even if Congress does not cut major aid programs.
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.
If approved, the new program would offer small, no-interest loans to civilian federal employees who work in Maryland but are not otherwise eligible for unemployment insurance payments.
If the City Council approves, Mayor Mike Johnston’s budget will allocate hundreds of millions more dollars than other cities around the state. Advocates are supportive of Johnston’s “housing first” approach.
August was the state’s second-hottest month on record in Dallas-Fort Worth, with the average temperature of 92.9 degrees. The heat’s impact on the state’s GDP is twice as pronounced as the change for the rest of the country.
The annual Medicare-plus advertising blitz now under way should remind us that smarter post-employment benefit designs for state and local employees are long overdue.
To be eligible for the $800,000 annual environmental grant program, a project must demonstrate how it can serve a priority community. The funds for the program became available through a reconfiguration of the county’s sales tax.
Ellen Rosenblum has joined a coalition of 23 other attorneys general that is urging the U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold the education department’s rule for protecting students from schools’ predatory behaviors.
While Congress has temporarily averted a government closure, the next 45 days provide uncertainty and opportunity to prepare for future fiscal turmoil.
The state’s public pension system had its worst investment performance in more than a decade, losing 1.55 percent of its value in 2022. To recoup its funds, the agency may have to make changes that could strain government employers.
A hefty nationwide increase in premiums for public employers to provide their workers and retirees with health coverage will outstrip most governments’ revenue growth. It’s time to address and attack root causes.
After the federal pandemic-era tax credit expansion ended in the second half of 2021, the child poverty rate more than doubled in 2022. Now, 14 states offer child tax credits and several more introduced bills this year.
