High Stakes for Transportation in Governors Races
Incoming governors will have big decisions to make about roads and transit and how projects are paid for.
Should Homeowners or Cities Maintain Sidewalks?
Denver voters are set to weigh in on the question in next week’s election, while also deciding on a tax that could help pay for sidewalk upgrades.
2 Practical Approaches to More Equitable Government Spending
It's been over two years since policy-makers began to redouble equity efforts with state and local budgets and programs. Here's a look at where things stand with some of that work.
A Fight Over How Tax Hikes are Passed at the Ballot Box
A proposal before Arizona voters would change the threshold for approving tax initiatives from a simple majority to 60%. Is it a check on outside groups funding tax-and-spend measures? Or a hit to citizens' power to approve new funding for their priorities?
A City Asks Residents to Vote on Which Infrastructure Projects to Fund
Denver is turning to “participatory budgeting” to decide how it will use a small slice of its budget for public works projects.
The States That Still Owe Billions in Federal Unemployment Loans
They took on the debt after Covid hit. If they don’t repay it soon, it will mean tax hikes for businesses. Republicans are knocking Democratic governors who’ve let the balances linger.
How Treasurers Are Using Tech to Return Lost Funds to Residents
COMMENTARY | Technology is making it faster, easier and simpler for states to return unclaimed property.
What the Housing Market Slowdown Will Mean for Property Taxes
Red hot home sales during the pandemic have cooled and that could have consequences for one of the main revenues local governments rely on. But the outlook varies place to place.
Cities and States Bristle Over Proposal to Change How They Report on Finances
Congress is weighing a plan that calls for overhauling how state and local government financial data is made public, stirring worries about new costs for software and staff. But supporters of the revamp say it’s long overdue.
Treasury Shuts Down Helpline for States and Localities
Due to a funding crunch left unaddressed by Congress, the department is phasing out phone and email services to field questions about billions in pandemic aid.
How the Costs of Disasters like Hurricane Ian are Calculated – and Why it Takes so Long to Add Them Up
COMMENTARY | A recovery expert explains what these estimates include and what could be done to make disasters less costly.
As Cities Recover, Financial Worries Loom
An annual National League of Cities’ survey finds optimism among city finance officials, but also wariness about risks like inflation and the possibility of a recession.
Financial Health Dashboard Offers Tips for Closing Wealth Gaps
A new online tool from the Urban Institute allows leaders to assess a community’s financial benchmarks and maps them to policies to address racial inequity.
Republicans are Gearing Up for ‘Aggressive’ ARPA Oversight if They Take Back the House
Lawmakers tell Route Fifty that “clawing back” unspent or misspent American Rescue Plan Act funds from states and localities is a possibility.
How Cryptocurrency Could Help to 'Crowdfund' Public Projects
The idea of leaning on the emerging technology to issue municipal bonds in small denominations has the potential to benefit governments and investors alike. But can the muni market adapt?
Deciding How to Use $41B in Remaining State ARPA Aid
States have already chosen where to spend the bulk of $195 billion in pandemic funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. A think tank is weighing in on what to do with the money that’s left.
Nevada's Public Health Insurance Option Could Bring More Than $1B in Savings
It’s also expected to raise the rate of Nevadans with health insurance.
Senate Reaches Deal to Avoid Shutdown, Punts Threat for 10 Weeks
Lawmakers agreed to drop controversial provisions and set up a new deadline for a lame duck Congress.
House Republicans Slam Buttigieg Over Infrastructure Law Rollout
They say the Transportation Department is flouting Congress with how it is managing programs funded by the $1.2 trillion package.
Former State Lawmakers Fail in Fight to Clawback Pay They Voted to Cut
The Illinois legislators boasted that they slashed their salaries during the Great Recession. But they later went to court to get back raises they missed out on.
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies
Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link
If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.
Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.
Cookie List
A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:
Strictly Necessary Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Functional Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Performance Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Sale of Personal Data
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.
Social Media Cookies
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.
Targeting Cookies
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.