Public Money Pod

We discuss the challenges of engaging elected officials in their community's financial story. Legendary City Manager Mark Scott explains how the Los Angeles Riots transformed Beverly Hills, how municipal bankruptcy transformed San Bernardino, how to engage elected officials in financial decisions, and the public finance of Coachella, among many other topics. In Ripped from the Headlines we enumerate the challenges and opportunities of the Financial Data Transparency Act.

We take a walk down Memory Lane, reminiscing on how the Great Recession shaped today's municipal credit analysis and financial disclosure. Suzanne Finnegan from Build America Mutual (BAM) explains the renaissance in municipal bond insurance, how bond insurance benefits issuers of all sorts, insuring and investing for sustainability, and why she's watching emerging trends in the housing market, among many other topics. In Ripped from the Headlines we ponder why investors are exiting the residential real estate market, and what that means for local public finance.

We take apart the "three-legged" stool of public pension funding, and explain why taxpayers should care about wonky details like discount rates and private equity fees. Natalie Cohen from National Municipal Research, Inc. walks us through the current public pension landscape, including into who decides where pension money goes, pension investing in the face of market volatility and normalizing interest rates, pensions and ESG, and why pension contributions relative to annual spending is "a thing," among other topics. In Ripped from the Headlines we follow up on Liz's recent work on pension governance.

Links to Liz's articles mentioned in Ripped from the Headlines:

https://www.route-fifty.com/finance/2023/01/chester-pennsylvania-municipal-chapter-9-bankruptcy/382142/

https://lizfarmer.substack.com/p/who-polices-pensions

We unpack the many hats worn by our state/local treasurers and comptrollers. Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity joins us - accompanied by Dr. Kyle Kopko from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania - for a careful look at the urban/rural savings divide in 529 college savings plans, building trust in financial institutions, and George Clooney's starring role in unclaimed property. In Ripped from the Headlines we discuss the challenges of financing access to critical health care in rural areas.

Stateline's article: pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2023/02/17/texas-town-tries-a-new-model-for-saving-rural-health-care

We give special treatment to special district finances, motivated by Disney's special district kerfuffle in Florida. Professor Chris Goodman from Northern Illinois University walks us through the history and development of special districts, where their money comes from and where it goes, whether they're effective and accountable, and why Mickey and Donald might appear at a special district board meeting soon. In Ripped from the Headlines we discuss the indirect but powerful public finance connections between insurance premiums and gentrification.

We continue our ongoing deep dive on the public finance of post-pandemic downtowns, including insights from Liz on neighborhood-downtown relations, and research findings from Justin on local lodging taxes. Sam Hecker from the Seattle Convention Center explains how SCC managed through a pandemic with no conventions, why natural amenities are the key to healthy post-pandemic downtowns, and the future of lodging taxes, among many other topics. In "Ripped from the Headlines" we explore the politics and economics of taxing non-profits.

We explore the surprising disconnect between accounting and accountability, especially for federal money now flowing into local governments. LaShon Ross from the City of Plano, TX describes the human capital challenges and opportunities in local government today, and explains why coaching, hard conversations and "multi-directional" accountability are essential to effective local government budgeting. In "Ripped from the Headlines" we discuss recent developments in state taxation of digital advertising.

Link to the article referenced in the episode: //news.bloombergtax.com/daily-tax-report-state/states-float-new-taxes-on-digital-ads-social-media-data-mining

We continue our discussion of what the work from home revolution means for state and local public finance. Scott Pattison from the Multistate Tax Commission - "the most important public organization you've never heard of" - walks us through MTC's mission and work, and explains how technology, digital commerce, and sweetened cranberries are reshaping state tax policy. In our new "Ripped from the Headlines" segment we explore the public finance implications of the local incorporation (and de-incorporation) movement.

We describe the confluence of fiscal stress and high technology that's reinventing aging infrastructure in post-industrial cities. Liz highlights her recent work on chronic fiscal stress, and makes clear that getting to bankruptcy is a group effort. Eric Horvath from the City of South Bend, IN tells the story of how South Bend used artificial intelligence and big data to tackle an $800 million stormwater management problem, all for a fraction of the estimated cost. Tyler from Chicago asks: "What are Social Bonds, and why is Chicago selling them?"

We devote all our bandwidth to broadband as an infrastructure investment. Pari Sabety and Krista Canellakis from US Digital Response walk us through USDR's work on broadband expansion and access, including how local government can access billions of new federal money, the FCC challenge process, and broadband as an education finance policy issue, among many other topics. Elliot from Florida asks: "What exactly does 'public-private partnerships' mean?"