We’ve written earlier (here and here) about legislation entitled “bond referendum transparency” that was working its way through the General Assembly this past session. Although Senate Bill 99 did not pass, key components of the legislation – regarding changes to the...

We’ve previously written about using synthetic tax increment financing (synthetic TIF) to fund economic development, and more precisely to determine if your public investment will have an economic return through an increase in property taxes or other private sector...

It is a truth universally observed that adding road capacity does not, after a dreadfully short transition period, reduce traffic congestion. In its simplest terms, the idea of induced demand is that an increase in the supply of a free good (in this case, un-tolled...

The Town of Carrboro is collaborating with Orange County on the development of the “203 Project,” which will be a 3-story building in downtown Carrboro that will host a County branch library and a variety Town offices. The project also includes a parking deck with 170...

We recently reviewed a 2022 GFOA article titled “Meeting Demand for State and Local Public Finance Jobs” that discussed the current difficult environment regarding the local government finance labor market. The difficulty in recruitment and retention for these jobs is...

Chapel Hill has an economic development public-private partnership that is increasing private investment in the core downtown, improving the Town’s parking system operations and laying the groundwork for additional private investment. The Town entered into an...

We read an article recently (a couple of articles actually) about a local government that has a 1.5-acre lot near the beach that it purchased for $2 million in the last couple of years. Apparently (all we know is what we read in the paper) the Town’s intended use for...

We’ve recently come across some articles that provide some new information about topics we’ve written about before. More evidence of the black tax. There’s more evidence that local government units with more racially and ethnically diverse populations are stuck with...

Why is public infrastructure so much more expensive in the United States than anywhere else? Why has the increase in cost of public infrastructure so far outstripped the increase in general price levels, or even the costs of direct construction inputs? We came across...

We recently reviewed a GFOA post from May titled “Should We Rethink Reserves.” We wrote previously on the importance of fund balance, but the GFOA article encourages a more granular analysis of reserve levels than we have discussed. As the need for local governments...