State and Local Finances After the Storm: Is Smooth Sailing Ahead?

March 30, 2007
At the Urban Institute - 2100 M Street, NW, 5th Floor

The economy has recovered and most states are flush again with revenues. This is an ideal time to step back and examine how state (and local) governments responded to the fiscal crises that developed at the turn of the millennium and what pressures loom ahead for states. What contributed to the budget shortfalls and how can those pitfalls be avoided in the future? How did states balance their budgets? Did property tax revenues support state and local tax systems after stock market prices fell resulting in swings downward in income and sales taxes? Is the current tax system adequate to provide needed services? We will address these questions at this all-day conference.

This conference is hosted by the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center and the Kellogg School of Management and the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University and sponsored by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Please register online. (Registration deadline: March 23)
Direct questions to Julianna Koch at jkoch@ui.urban.org or call 202-261-5538.

Agenda

8:30 - Registration and continental breakfast

9:00 - Welcome and Opening Remarks

• Moderator: Kim Rueben
• Federal-State Partnership for Access to Affordable Health Coverage
  Speaker: Katherine Baicker, Member, Council of Economic Advisers

9:45 - Session 1: Steps Taken During the Recession of 2001

• Moderator: Nick Johnson, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
• Get Well Soon: Understanding States' Fiscal Health after the 2001 Recession
  Elaine Maag, The Urban Institute
  David Merriman, Loyola University Chicago
• State Business Tax Strategies in Response to the Revenue Performance of 2000-2003
  William F. Fox, University of Tennessee
  LeAnn Luna, University of Tennessee
  Matthew N. Murray, University of Tennessee

10:45 - Break

11:00 - Session 2: Pushing Down the Problem: Changes in the State-Local Relationship

• Moderator: Christopher Hoene, National League of Cities
• Property Tax Responses to State Aid Cuts in the Recent Fiscal Crisis
  Richard F. Dye, Lake Forest College
  Andrew Reschovsky, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Responses of Local Governments in Minnesota to Changes in State Aid
  Nathan B. Anderson, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Fiscal Problems and Education Finance
  James Alm, Georgia State University
  David Sjoquist, Georgia State University
  Robert Buschman, Georgia State University

12:30 - Lunch

1:30 - State and Local Finances and the Rating Agencies

• Moderator: Therese McGuire
• Speakers: Melanie Shaker and Laura Porter, Fitch Ratings

2:15 - Break

2:30 - Session 3: Future Pressures Ahead: Likely Budget Busters Going Forward

• Moderator: C. Eugene Steuerle, The Urban Institute
• Medicaid Expenditures and State Budgets: Past, Present and Future
  James Marton, University of Kentucky
  David E. Wildasin, University of Kentucky
• State Spending on Education: Promises or Pitfalls Ahead?
  Sheila Murray, Texas A&M University
  Kim Rueben, The Urban Institute
• Pension Funding and State Government Finances: Back in the Black or Trouble Ahead?
  J. Fred Giertz, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Leslie E. Papke, Michigan State University

4:00 - Adjourn