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.
Work requirements remain on the table but Congress will not cut the matching rate for the Affordable Care Act expansion or impose per capita limits on states.
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.
State election officials have warned that eliminating ballot bar codes, adding ballot verification technology and installing voting machine upgrades would not be ready for the 2024 election.
Nearly 5 million properties in the Western U.S. could see higher insurance rates or claim nonrenewals due to wildfire danger alone in the next 30 years. Experts worry this is just one factor that could cause a housing bubble.
A new study has suggested that things could get worse for Florida and other states that are hammered by natural disasters because of a double whammy of rising rates and risks that could result in spiraling decline in demand and property values.
The administration announced a new initiative that would potentially help tens of millions of people by eliminating information that can depress consumers’ scores as a result of medical debt.
The long-sought reform took effect on Monday and abolished cash bail as a potential condition for release, changing the way pretrial hearings are conducted. State Republicans who mostly oppose the measure still have concerns about the legislation.
With federal deficits soaring, bond issuers may face higher financing costs. State and local cash managers shine for now, but all eyes will be on the coming congressional budget battle.
Mayor Jacob Frey’s 2024 budget includes millions set aside over the next two years to comply with court orders to end racist and unconstitutional policing in a plan for new spending and new positions.
The top 10 counties with the largest population gains grew 10 times faster than the national average, impacting school resources, farmland prices and more.
The gap between wage growth and inflation was at its widest in the third quarter of 2022, but, since May, pay has been rising faster than inflation. However, workers’ wages aren’t set to recover their loss of purchasing power until the end of next year.
A first-of-its-kind school construction project will save a Maryland school district hundreds of millions of dollars — and create exceptional learning environments.
A task force has recommended making cash payments to the descendants of American slaves to address over-policing, mass incarceration, housing discrimination and health disparities. But a majority of voters oppose the idea.
They are a key source of funding for transportation infrastructure, but have been shrinking for years. Two new reports explore possible alternatives.
Many Americans are at risk of outliving their retirement savings. State pension plans could have a new role: selling longevity insurance. It could even save states money in the long run.
Governments need to balance expected returns on their invested cash with the costs of their bonds and other obligations. Shifting a portion of their long-term debt from fixed to floating rate is a way to hedge interest rate risk.
The account run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency covering emergency aid for disasters is projected to have a $4.8 billion shortfall by the end of the month. But replenishing the fund is proving to be politically challenging.
The state’s Division of Motor Vehicles will now take online payments of cryptocurrency through PayPal for drivers’ licenses, identification cards, vehicle registrations or other online services.
With little in local tax revenue to help pay staff, rural Texas sheriffs are often forced to do more with less. Lawmakers hope a new grant program will help rebuild the ranks of rural law enforcement.
The U.S. Forest Service is distributing $1 billion to help communities protect themselves from wildfires, but congressional deadlines forced the first round of funding out in a hurry. For the next round, officials want to be more proactive.
An online resource now being built out has the potential to become an important intellectual hub for public-sector investment practitioners. They need to articulate what they most want to find there.
The city’s Revenue Stabilization Workgroup was tasked with crafting progressive taxes. Here’s what they came up with.
An independent consultant reported that the problematic rollout of the new payroll software system could be tied to a lack of IT involvement, communication and planning from the county’s own staff.
The Mendocino County board of supervisors decided to use more than $63,000 of opioid settlement funds, approximately 6.5 percent of the total the county received in the first two years of distribution, to fill a $6 million budget shortfall.
The state has the fifth-highest average amount of debt per undergraduate for the class of 2020 and approximately 15 percent of residents have some form of student debt. For many, their way of living will change when payments resume next month.
