Death and Taxes

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Citizen Engagement in the Budgeting Process

July 24, 2017 / Whitney Afonso / 0 Comments

There has been a lot of interest in how to tighten up the relationships between citizens and their local governments. At the local level there is a lot more opportunity to work with and get feedback from citizens. This is accomplished by many communities and in various ways. I believe, and I know this will be shocking, that the budget is the single best place to engage citizens. The budget is the encyclopedia of government. The budget reflects what government does and reflects priorities based on spending decisions, as well as changes in the community as reflected in changes in the budget from year to year.

***I love this quote from a VP debate in 2012. 1) It is true. 2) It is hilarious because we are living in a time of continuing resolutions rather than budgets at the federal level, so I guess we prioritize not making hard decisions and not working together.*** Continue reading

Do cities and counties circumvent state policy? One potential mechanism.

July 19, 2017 / Christopher Goodman / 0 Comments

Cities and counties are constructs of their respective states. Counties are almost always created by state constitutional decree. Cities are municipal corporations created by state legislative action. Regardless of the method of creation, states exercise significant control over what cities and counties can and cannot do. From the taxes levied to debt issuances to services that can or cannot be provided, the state determines the role of local governments within its borders. States have been pre-empting local policies at an increasing rate. The National League of Cities has documented a number of these actions. Popular targets are restrictions locally imposed minimum wages (24 states), paid leave (18 states), and public provision of broadband internet (17 states). Of these three, North Carolina is included in all. There are many other areas where states have been pre-empting local actions. This top-down view suggests that local governments have little ability to chart their own course. However, this isn’t quite right. There are many ways that cities and counties push back against state policy. In the news now, Sanctuary Cities in Texas are pushing back against new laws restricting their actions. This is a highly visible example; however, cities and counties often have other options that are less visible.

What Fun Awaits?

July 19, 2017 / Gregory Allison / 0 Comments

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) apparently never slows down! The past several years have seen an explosion of activity that includes significant changes to governmental financial reporting – and there is MUCH more to come! A future blog post will focus on the most recently approved pronouncement – GASB Statement No. 87, Leases, which provides guidance for lease contracts for nonfinancial assets, and is consistent with private-sector lease requirements recently approved by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). This blog post, however, is a quick peek into the current GASB agenda and the expected timelines for those projects.

North Carolina’s County and Municipal Fiscal Analysis Tool: Research Review

June 26, 2017 / Whitney Afonso / 0 Comments

Have you ever used the County and Municipal Fiscal Analysis tool that is housed on Treasurer’s website? It allows municipalities and counties in the state to see how they are doing with regard to financial condition and compare their performance to peers. It has recently become the focus of new research coming from colleagues at the University of South Dakota and Indiana University. Ed Gerrish and Luke Spreen presented their research on our benchmarking tool earlier this month at the Public Management Research Conference and it is forthcoming at the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. In this Research Review I am going to discuss their research and pull a few findings that are especially notable for those of you that work in budgeting and finance.

IAAO Course Prerequisites

Let’s go over them.

It was an (im)perfect illusion: Fiscal Illusion and You

May 22, 2017 / Whitney Afonso / 0 Comments

Fiscal illusion, sounds catchy doesn’t it? Does it sound more like something you would read about on an ophthalmology website than a blog on taxes? Well, that is where you are wrong. Fiscal illusion is a hypothesis surrounding the notion that citizens systematically misunderstand their true tax burdens and the benefits they receive from government-provided services. In other words, they do not understand how much they pay in taxes or the value of the services that government provides.

Communicating and Sharing Information

May 17, 2017 / Kimberly Simpson / 0 Comments

As this year’s North Carolina Association of Assessing Officers (NCAAO) President, I’ve tried to make good communication one of my priorities. Across North Carolina, we have received appeals from common taxpayers. There are a lot of them. We can call them multi-jurisdiction taxpayers and define them as individual taxpayers with real and personal property in more than one jurisdiction. It only makes sense for that taxpayer to keep track of how each of us responds to appeals. Which of us concede easily? Which of us have accurate data and can defend our values? Are there any counties that do not have the financial or other resources available to defend values?

Appraisal and Reappraisal. Just Do It?

May 11, 2017 / Kirk Boone / 0 Comments

In late 2014, just after joining the SOG, the NCDOR included me in the initial discussions among assessors about North Carolina’s reappraisal standards. This blog post includes some of the thoughts and questions that I shared with the group at that time. Please keep in mind that this post is written informally, from my perspective during late 2014. I was discussing with the committee, mainly through emails, whether the assessment system our taxpayers deserve was being delivered. On the other side of an inadequate reappraisal, I wasn’t sure our lawmakers in Raleigh would accept an excuse of, “We weren’t given the needed resources”. I’ll refer again back to this related blog post on ways to request what is needed.

You Are Doing WHAT to the Governmental Funds?? – Part 3, The Long-Term Approach

May 2, 2017 / Gregory Allison / 0 Comments

Yogi Berra said it best. “It’s déjà vu all over again.” That is what should come to everyone’s mind upon reviewing the third measurement focus and basis of accounting proposal from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board’s (GASB) recent Invitation to Comment (ITC), Financial Reporting Model Improvements – Governmental Funds. As was noted in the previous blog post You Are Doing WHAT to the Governmental Funds?? – Part 2, the Short-Term Approach, each proposal is moving further and further away from the current financial resource measurement focus and the modified accrual basis of accounting currently used in the governmental funds. Well, this is an all-out retreat!! In fact, it is also being referred to as the total financial resources approach.

Crowdsourcing for Local Governments: Research Review

April 24, 2017 / Whitney Afonso / 0 Comments

Research Review is a place for me to bring you academic research that I think might be of interest or relevant to you all. It is not necessarily the Cliff notes of the paper, but it will present some key findings or insights from the paper.