Public Money Pod

This week, we spoke with Caitlin Lewis, Executive Director of Work for America. Amid large-scale reductions in the federal workforce, we asked about what state and local governments are doing to attract these talented public servants, and how programs like Civic Match are helping these workers find new positions. We also discuss the true extent of the federal workforce across all facets of life, and what is lost when we privatize the public sector. In Ripped from the Headlines, we talk about how cuts to the federal workforce have impacted the local financial outlook of the District of Columbia.

Government efficiency is a trendy topic these days, but Eric Schnurer, president of Public Works LLC, has dedicated his career to it. We wanted to speak to an expert on what it looks like to assess state and local government performance and spending. He shares examples of his approach and makes the case for why it's worth investing the time in speaking directly to employees, and how that leads to better short- and long-term government performance. In Ripped from the Headlines, we discuss a story looking at government efficiency efforts being led in statehouses across the country.

It's no secret that the pandemic changed our commuting patterns and how we use transit. How have transit systems found success in re-gaining ridership and financing capital improvement projects? We sat down with MTA CFO Kevin Willens, who talked to us about how the MTA has navigated a wide array of strategies, including mitigating fare and toll evasion and balancing its budget through 2026. We also asked about congestion pricing and what the early data can tell us about its potential to be rolled out elsewhere. In Ripped from the Headlines, we take a look at transit in Chicago and a proposal by the CTA to combine Chicagoland's three transit providers into one entity.

On the heels of a dizzying week in which the White House ordered—then rescinded—a freeze on federal funds, we wanted to discuss what this all could mean for state and local governments. To help us make sense of it all, we're thrilled to welcome Carolyn Bourdeaux, former U.S. Representative from Georgia's 7th district and Senior Visiting Scholar at the University of Georgia School of Public & International Affairs; Lisa Washburn, Chief Credit Officer and Managing Director at Municipal Market Analytics; and Noah Winn-Ritzenberg, Senior Director of Public Finance at the Volcker Alliance.

We kick off our 100th episode with some Public Money Pod trivia! Then, we speak to Bill Fulton, Founder of the William Fulton Group. With an extensive background in urban planning and economic development, Bill talks to us about connecting fiscal policy and urban planning, the role of "place" in promoting community development, and rethinking how we utilize real estate in a post-pandemic world. We also talk to Bill about the potential fiscal and policy impacts of the Los Angeles wildfires. In Ripped from the Headlines, we discuss the connection between natural disasters and the affordable housing crisis, and what potential solutions exist to mitigate these issues in the future.

This week, we welcome back to the pod Joshua Franzel, Senior Executive and Director of Research & Data Analysis at the National League of Cities (NLC), as well as one of our first ever guests from Season 1. We talk about NLC's recent centennial tour, which wrapped in November 2024 after touring 130 cities across the country. We also discuss the NLC's City Fiscal Conditions Report, along with how NLC works to improve communications and foster civil discourse between elected officials and their residents. In Ripped from the Headlines, we discuss the implications of a new law in Arizona that forbids cities from charging taxes on rent.

The NLC's City Fiscal Conditions Report for 2024 is available here: https://www.nlc.org/resource/city-fiscal-conditions-2024

We're joined this week by Hartford, Connecticut Mayor Arunan Arulampalam. We spoke with Mayor Arulampalam about the challenges Hartford faces as a mid-sized city that serves a much larger metro area, along with growing Hartford's tax base and funding public health and violence prevention programs. We also asked the mayor about the post-Covid challenge of utilizing downtown commercial real estate, including the complexities of converting office spaces for residential and other uses. In Ripped from the Headlines, we discuss the city of Missoula, Montana, and the challenges the city faces in addressing rising homelessness.

Happy New Year, Public Money Pod listeners! We've got a special bonus episode to kick off 2025, where we're sharing never-before-aired clips from some of our Season 3 interviews. You'll hear excerpts from our conversations with:

• Dr. Angie Flick (Director of Finance, City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska)
• Abhi Nemani (Senior Vice President of Product Strategy, Euna Solutions)
• Casey Lozar (Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and Director of the Center for Indian Country Development)
• Vijay Kapoor (Chief of Staff to the Receiver for the City of Chester, Pennsylvania)
• Joel Black (Chair, Governmental Accounting Standards Board)
• Mayor Christina Muryn (Findlay, Ohio)

In this week's episode, we speak to Dr. Whitney Afonso, Professor of Public Administration and Government at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Government. We discuss state and local sales tax policy and issues and considerations surrounding the creation of such policy, including understanding the tax base, exporting tax burden and sales tax leakage, "cross-border" shopping, and the economic incidence and revenue generation of expanding the tax base. In Ripped from the Headlines, we discuss a local measure in Napa, California proposing to raise the city's sales tax, and how municipalities can deal with "tax fatigue" on ballot measures.

We're joined this week by Tom Kozlik, Head of Public Policy & Municipal Strategy at Hilltop Securities. He helps us unpack what kinds of tax reform and policies we might expect to see in the incoming Trump administration, including the renewal of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the future of the state and local tax (SALT) deduction and the municipal bond tax exemption. He also talks to us about the implications of one-party control in the next administration and the end of the Golden Age of Public Finance. In Ripped from the Headlines, we dive deeper into the upcoming landscape for federal spending, and what that means as governors and mayors navigate these changes.