Recently in State & Local Finance Category

Source: Jenni Spinner, Public Works, Vol. 141 no. 7, June 2010

Budget shortfalls are nothing new to public agencies, and they're all too familiar to Michigan's Genesee County Parks and Recreation Commission (GCPRC).

McMillan called her team together for a brainstorming session, encouraging employees at every level to spout out ideas that would save just $10 a year. The group started the session with the aim of creating 60 ideas in 60 minutes. But when their hour was up, they'd generated 80 ideas, ranging from reducing the frequency of mowings in some areas, using e-mail rather than the U.S. Postal Service to share information, and letting field employees wear their own jeans rather than agency-purchased uniform pants.

A number of the ideas were put in place that, combined, were expected to save $40,000 over one year. Instead, they saved four times that: $167,000.

The following measures have been taken as result of the cost-cutting ideas generated by the staff of Genesee County Parks.

Source: American City & County, August 16, 2010

American City & County's Municipal Cost Index for August 2010 is available now. With a value of 212.2, the Municipal Cost Index is 2.9 percent higher than last year and has increased very slightly from the July value of 212.1.

The Municipal Cost Index, developed exclusively by American City & County, is designed to show the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services.

Source: Catherine Rampell, New York Times Economix Blog, August 31, 2010

Last week Michael Powell wrote about the federal tax dollars that gush to Alaska each year. Today the Census Bureau has released updated figures on how much each state receives in federal funding per capita, and once again Alaska came out on top.

Source: Catherine Rampell, New York Times, Economix Blog, August 30, 2010

The Tax Foundation recently broke down some new state and local tax data from the Census Bureau, and found some stark variations in where states get their tax revenue.

Below is an interactive map, showing what percent of each state's tax revenue comes from each of the following sources: property taxes, general sales taxes, elective sales taxes, individual income taxes, corporate income taxes and licenses and other taxes.

Source: Sarah Leberstein, National Employment Law Project, June 2010

Employers increasingly misclassify their employees as independent contractors, denying them the protection of workplace laws, robbing unemployment insurance and workers compensation funds of billions of much-needed dollars, and reducing federal, state and local tax withholding and revenues. State-level task forces, commissions, and research teams are using agency audits along with unemployment insurance and workers compensation data to document the scope of independent contractor misclassification. Confirming the findings of earlier national studies, these state reports
show that 10 to 30% of employers, or even more, misclassify workers, and several million workers
may be misclassified. State and federal governments lose billions in revenues annually.

Source: Ed Brock, American City and County, July 1, 2010

Tax dollars continue to be in scarce supply, and infrastructure costs remain high, leading many cities and counties to enter into tax-sharing arrangements that allow them to share both the benefits and costs of development. However, proponents of the plans may find some political resistance from those who feel they stand to profit more on their own.

Source: National Employment Law Project, July 2010

At a time when 46 states are suffering from budget shortfalls totaling $121 billion, this fact sheet details the costs to states of implementing and litigating anti-immigrant laws. According to a 2008 study by the Perryman Group from Texas, the negative effect of eliminating the undocumented workforce from the US would be a loss of more than $651 billion in annual economic output and $1.8 trillion in annual spending. Arizona stands to lose $90 million due to boycotts, as well as spend millions of dollars litigating the constitutionality of its harsh SB 1070, which has been partially enjoined.
Related:
From Anti-Immigrant to Pro-Worker: What States Can Do About Immigration & Workers' Rights

Source: Dante Chinni, PBS Newshour, Patchwork Nation, August 11, 2010

In the past year-plus the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act has pumped hundreds of billions into the U.S. economy. Yet, the slump continues. Why? Has the stimulus had an impact? Has it made things better than they would have been without the stimulus - a frequent argument of the Obama administration?

With the help of ProPublica, a non-profit investigative news operation, Patchwork Nation has sorted through the first year of ARRA funding and found two things, both of them somewhat disconcerting.

First, when you look at how the money was disbursed using Patchwork Nation's 12 county types, the places that need the most help have not done as well as some other communities. Second, even taking that "misplaced disbursement" into account, the money pushed into U.S. communities is significant and still sluggish economy suggests a the hole in the U.S. economy is massive.
Related:
Data Show Stimulus Isn't Reaching the Nation's Neediest Counties and States
Source: Marian Wang, ProPublica, August 12, 2010

Source: U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, Fact Sheet, August 10, 2010

From the press release:
The Great Recession caused the steepest decline in state and local tax receipts on record as nearly every revenue source took a hit. Rising unemployment and plummeting business profits drove down state income tax receipts. Sales tax receipts declined as consumer spending slowed and property taxes dropped as the housing market collapsed and housing valuations fell. Fewer home sales translated into lost revenues from property transactions. Even after making deep spending cuts over the last two years, state and local governments continue to face severe budget gaps. These spending cuts have led to unprecedented reductions in state government spending for two consecutive fiscal years.

Source: Ron Snell, State Legislatures, Vol. 36 no. 7, 2010

Lawmakers spent the past five years shoring up public retirement plans. The battering state budgets have taken in the past few years has drawn more public attention to another huge financial issue: public pension systems.