Ohio’s New Local Government Fiscal Warning Tool; Seattle Proposal for Surveillance Approval
Columbus, Ohio
Connecting state and local government leaders
Also in our State and Local Daily Digest: Alaska’s reduced revenue sharing with cities; Wyoming’s wind-energy tax; and new flood maps roil county leaders in N.C.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE | Ohio’s state auditor on Wednesday unveiled a new predictive tool that will sound the alarm when a city or county jurisdiction is headed toward a fiscal cliff. "The indicators focus on key financial data points to determine whether an entity is improving or worsening and to what degree," according to Auditor Dave Yost. "Those data points, or financial indicators, collectively tell us whether problems lie ahead." [The Columbus Dispatch]
City council leaders in Fairbanks, Alaska, are planning the city’s next fiscal budget under the assumption that state revenue sharing with local jurisdictions is going to be reduced. “Financially, we’re going to have a difficult year,” according to Councilmember Jerry Cleworth. “We lost most our fund balance.” [News Miner]
CITY HALLS | Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant wants to pass a retroactive ordinance requiring federal agencies to obtain approval for any surveillance equipment it has installed or wants to install around town. A federal judge recently barred the city from releasing information about cameras the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and FBI secretly installed. [Crosscut]
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell is proposing a three-cent increase on fuel taxes and parking meter rate hikes as part of a proposal to fund operations for the passenger rail line that’s currently taking shape on Oahu. [Hawaii News Now]
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh wants a coffee shop in the lobby of city hall, saying “it’s important that everyone who visits our building has an enjoyable and productive experience.” [The Boston Globe]
STATE LEGISLATURES | A Montana lawmaker has proposed a bill that would ban bicyclists and pedestrians from most two-lane roads without paved shoulders in the state. But Republican state Rep. Barry Usher said he wasn’t initially aware of how broad the measure was or that so many roads in the state lacked paved shoulders. “I don’t want to ban bicycles,” Usher said. “I don’t want to kill tourism. I want bike safety.” [Last Best News]
Democratic Pennsylvania state Rep. Tony DeLuca plans to introduce bills permitting early voting and same-day registration again this legislative session despite previous Republican inaction. Early voting is permitted in 37 states, though it hasn’t been proven to increase voter turnout. Same-day registration has, but it’s only allowed in 13 states because of the perception that the practice largely benefits Democrats’ more sophisticated get-out-the-vote efforts. “[Republicans] should have enough guts to put it out on the floor and let members vote on it,” DeLuca said. [The Incline]
Republicans in the Utah’s state legislature want President Trump to rescind former President Barack Obama’s executive action creating the Bears Ears National Monument. And they want Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument downsized. "Both these monuments are in my district," state Rep. Mike Noel said. "Both of these monuments were illegal in my view. They were done as a result of wanting to pay off environmentalists." Steve Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said: “The message that Utah is sending by even suggesting this is nothing short of outrageous.” [The Salt Lake Tribune]
State lawmakers in Wyoming defeated a bill that would have upped a tax on wind energy production from $1 to $5 per megawatt hour. The House Revenue Committee rejected the measure 7 to 2. Wyoming is the only state with a wind-production tax. [Casper Star Tribune]
FLOODING | Commissioners in Carteret County, North Carolina, aren’t pleased that new floodplain maps, indicating flooding risk, moved more than 2,200 properties to high-risk zones—which will raise insurance rates. “Where is the empirical data that supports these proposed changes,” a retired physicist from Morehead City asked. [Times-News Online]
NEXT STORY: Fiscally Strained Michigan Municipalities Face a ‘Perfect Storm’