Lawmakers in at least 19 states are advancing wealth taxes, capital gains surcharges and corporate tax changes to combat inequality and rising living costs.
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.
High-profile departures of senior-level executives reflect not only an aging workforce and a more politicized operating environment but also salaries and benefits that need to be competitive with the private sector’s.
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.
The City Council voted unanimously to equip about 810 sworn police officers with body cameras next year, making a summertime pilot program permanent. However only 297 of the patrol officers will be required to wear them routinely.
The state has pledged billions of dollars to its pre-kindergarten program, which will be available to 4-year-olds for free, but has no plans to formally evaluate its benefits. Many are wondering: Is the program effective?
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 Safe Streets for All program is awarding millions of dollars directly to cities and counties to improve roadways for all users. Many are applying multiple times.
Massachusetts is showing the way by going to the end users of the products and services governments buy. It’s good for suppliers as well, and produces better results for everyone.
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.
This spring the city will begin implementing solar panels on city-owned sites, either on rooftops, as parking canopies or as shade structures in parks in community centers. Currently just 10 city buildings have solar panels to generate electricity.
Federal officials say 16 states have shortchanged their Black land grant colleges by billions of dollars. Equitable funding would benefit not only students at these vital institutions but their states’ economies as well.
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.
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.
Three state-level officials demonstrate the characteristics of good governance, without the chaos playing out in the nation’s capital.
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