Biden s lifeline for red-state cities
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El Paso is being squeezed.
In 2019, the Texas state legislature passed SB2 which limits property tax increases to 3.5 percent per year. Meanwhile, most of the city s budget is based on largely unfunded state mandates. And where the state in 2008 funded 45 percent of local education costs, that s been reduced to just 39 percent today.
So even before the COVID-19 crisis hit, The wiggle room we have to spend on projects we think are important becomes smaller and smaller, observes El Paso County Commissioner, David Stout.
El Paso, a city similar in size to Boston and Washington, D.C., is politically a blue triangle at the far end of a sea of red in West Texas â and Stout thinks politics plays a big role in the increasing limits on local spending: The state legislature wants to stop local progressive policies from being put in place.
Access to affordable housing remains a challenge in Virginia as in many states. During the 2021 General Assembly session, Virginia adopted a Low Income Housing Tax Credit and initiated.
As covid relief money floods in, pandemic-battered cities see a chance to transform washingtonpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtonpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
April 9, 2021
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President Biden may have just introduced a plan to rebuild American infrastructure and ‘create millions of jobs,’ but state and local governments are still celebrating the jobs saved by the bipartisan American Rescue Plan.
Every single House Republican voted against that Rescue Plan to save the jobs of teachers, firefighters, and first responders across the country…including Rep. David Rouzer who voted against the Rescue Plan funds that CBS News reports are being used to hire mental health counselors in schools to help NC-07 children recover from learning COVID-19 learning loss.
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teachers, firefighters and other public workers could soon be back to work, thanks to the $350 billion in state and local government aid included as part of the $1.9 trillion legislation passed last month.
States and counties look to federal stimulus cash to save public jobs By Sarah Ewall-Wice
April 9, 2021 / 6:00 AM / CBS News
As the coronavirus pandemic brought travel to a grinding halt last year, Hawaii s economy, based heavily on tourism, stood still. The state s 9.2% February unemployment rate is the nation s highest. State health department employee Lorena Kashiwamura feared for her job as the governor warned of cuts. We were watching and praying for the American Rescue Plan to go through because the governor kept mentioning that he needed the aid to help balance the budget, said Kashiwamura. The governor announced layoffs and furloughs were no longer necessary.