Government finance

Funding levels for grant programs won't be set until next year.

Budget officers in another 14 states have reported early fiscal 2019 revenues running within a half percentage of projections with only five telling the National Association of States Budget Officers they were collecting less than projected.

Americans place almost $150 billion in illegal sports bets annually, according to the American Gaming Association.

Christian Sobrino Vega, the commonwealth’s representative to the Puerto Rico Financial Oversight and Management Board, made clear in an interview with The Bond Buyer that the commonwealth has not and will not intermingle federal disaster aid with debt payments to the island’s bondholders.

The dollar value of net pension liabilities rose in 43 states while the dollar value of outstanding tax-supported debt rose in 17 states, the report said.

The vote ends the effort to create a new city and ends the legal debate over who would have been responsible for Stockbridge bond debt.

Katano Kasaine, director of finance for the City of Oakland, Calif., and Noreen White, co-founder of Acacia Financial Group, will receive the 2018 Freda Johnson Award for Trailblazing Women in Public Finance.

The results stand to influence the municipal market through capital planning and budget actions with potential impacts on ratings and borrowing levels.

If the workarounds states are using by creating charitable foundations as a way to pay property taxes or state and local income taxes are legal, Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone said it’s up to Congress to decide whether to end them.

Most state and local governments are concerned the ceiling will make it harder to raise taxes to pay for public services and infrastructure.

Attracting companies like Amazon requires more than tax incentives, favorable regulations and other lures to which we can attach a dollar sign.

Although there is no direct role for tax-exempt bonds in Opportunity Zones, municipalities are looking at them as a way to attract capital investment to economically distressed areas.

The new GASB standards apply to Other Post-Employment Benefits, or OPEB, which mostly pertain to retiree health benefits, but also can include dental, vision, disability and death benefits.

The Georgia Supreme Court won't delay a referendum to de-annex half of Stockbridge, though the state's de-annexation law is still being challenged in court.

The Tennesee capital will issue $775 million of general obligation improvement bonds.

Thursday is the deadline for sending comments to the IRS on its proposal to prevent taxpayers from avoiding the $10,000 federal cap on state and local tax deductions that Congress enacted last December.

Common Good estimates the delays are adding $1.7 billion annually in lost opportunity costs and additional construction costs to the larger Gateway Development project, which includes a new Portal North Bridge in New Jersey.

GASB is accepting comments through Nov. 2 on its proposal to clarify the definition of a conduit debt obligation.

House Republicans want to make permanent the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions and the lower tax rates for individuals, both of which are due to expire at the end of 2025.

The report found that 61% of the 341 finance officers who participated in the survey anticipate negative future impacts on their city's financial health from the termination of advance refundings, while 35% said they already have seen negative impacts.