Public Money Pod

In this week's special episode, longtime political journalist Alan Greenblatt joins us to unpack the 2026 midterms and what they mean for state and local government. Alan walks us through the flips in Texas, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, and Nevada, a historic class of new governors, and the emergence of data centers as a potent and largely NIMBY issue.

In this week’s episode, we sit down with Jackie Nowicki, Director in the Education, Workforce, and Income Security team at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, to discuss GAO’s new report on school facilities. We discuss the scale of chronic building problems, the role of deferred maintenance and rising construction costs, and why district capacity and community engagement matter as much as...

This week, we're joined by Joe Snyder, CFO of Rochester Hills, Michigan, to talk about what happens when citizen engagement moves from less frequent public hearings to a year-round digital portal. We discuss the city's AI budget assistant, hearing from the "silent majority" instead of the vocal few, and how resident feedback shaped the FY2027 budget.

In our second episode of the season, we sit down with Wendy Edelberg to discuss what states can do about affordability, why long-term fiscal notes and sunset provisions deserve more attention, and unpacking the national debt topping $40 trillion and why that headline number isn't the one that matters most for the economy.

In our Season 5 premiere, we sit down with Noah Baskett, CEO, and Tyler Bahr, CFO of the Salt Lake City Public Library, breaking down some misconceptions around how public libraries are funded through property taxes, the expensive cost of digital materials, and the important role philanthropy plays in paying for new branches.

In this special summer break episode, we're live from the GFOA conference in Chicago with Dean Mead, Partner and Government & Public Sector Sub-Line Leader at Carr, Riggs & Ingram (CRI). Drawing on 25 years at the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, Dean walks us through what people most often misunderstand about governmental accounting, who actually reads and uses financial statement...

As we wrap up season 4, we look back at some of the themes that dominated the season. These key themes include federal funding cuts, increased fiscal restraints on local government, disaster funding shifts, property taxes, and the "next big thing": data centers and Advanced Air Mobility.

In the Season 4 finale, we sit down with Lavera Alexander, Chief Growth Officer at Monterey Bay Economic Partnership, to explore what it takes to bring large-scale development projects to smaller and rural communities. We discuss the role of public and private financing, the challenges of funding aviation infrastructure, and how thoughtful investment can drive economic growth while improving resid...

In this week's episode we discuss the means and tools available to municipalities to collect property taxes owed and the case of Pung v. Isabella County with our guest Adam J. Cohen, chair of the Municipal Law and Community Associations section at Pullman & Comley. Oral arguments were heard before the U.S. Supreme Court in February 2026, but a decision has yet to be handed down. The outcome is...

Mark Funkhouser spent decades in government service, first as a municipal auditor, then as Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri and he discusses how the role of local governments has changed and who they really serve. Now leading Funkhouser & Associates, he brings that experience to bear on local government accountability, the rise of private equity in essential services, and what monopoly control m...

This week, we sit down with Caitlin Lewis, Founding Executive Director of Work for America, to explore the shifting landscape of public sector employment. We discuss how her organization is helping workers navigate the transition from federal to local government amid ongoing federal restructuring, what it takes to fix a hiring process that too often drives talented people away, and why working in...

In this week's episode, we sit down with Adam Carpenter, Manager of Energy and Environmental Policy, and Rachel Gonsenhauser, Regulatory Technical Manager of Government Affairs at the American Water Works Association, to explore the state of water distribution systems across the United States. They discuss the scale of investment needed to modernise ageing infrastructure and what that means for co...

This week, we sit down with Chris Osgood, Director of Boston's Office of Climate Resilience and Senior Advisor for Infrastructure to Mayor Michelle Wu, and Ian Donnelly, Deputy Budget Director and Director of Capital Planning for the City of Boston. We explore how Boston is embedding climate resilience into its capital planning process and the tough tradeoffs between near-term fiscal pressures and...

This week we are joined by Keola Harrington, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) to discuss how the PPA has evolved since it's creation nearly seventy years ago. How the institution has changed to facilitate mobility in the city for the residents and using technology for these purposes.

This week we discuss the changing landscape of federal funding for disasters available to states with Colin Foard Project Director for Managing Fiscal Risks. How have the eligibility criteria changed over the years? And what other in-state funding methods available to intervene.

In this episode we discuss instilling fiscal responsibility in federal budgeting practices to ensure the national debt remains at sustainable levels. Professors Steve Redburn , Philip G. Joyce and Roy Meyers discuss checks and balances introduced by congress and the manifesto they have created to foster such practices again.

This week we talk to Ted Ross, Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the City of Los Angeles about it's approach to digital infrastructure, particularly the adoption of AI and how it's transforming the workplace and service delivery.

This week we talk about a very pertinent topic: How will the local electric grid accommodate the data center boom? When power grids tend to operate on close to maximum capacity, even a modest increase in demand demands significant investment. Where will those investments come from, and where will they go?

In this week's episode we discuss bitcoin backed municipal debt issuance in New Hampshire with Les Borsai & James Key-Wallace. There has been a wave of states embracing digital currency in debt issuance with legislation introduced in 32 states as of now. We discuss the mechanics, the partnership with the state and private firms, and the potential landscape going foeward.

Welcome back to the Public Money Pod, the first episode for 2026. In this episode we interview Professor Erick Guerra from the University of Pennsylvania. We discuss the transportation infrastructure which involves building, maintaining, and rebuilding an ever expanding road and highway network that has to be financed.

In the episode before thanksgiving we interview Mike Twitty, Pinellas County Property Appraiser. We talk about the different technological tools that have been employed in the Pinellas County to make the property tax process much more transparent, especially for new home owners. We also discuss the sentiment of lawmakers in Florida to property taxes and possible future outcomes.

In episode 11 we continue with the IG series with the former inspector general of the Department of Interior and the Chair of the Counsel of the Inspectors General Mark Greenblatt. We dive into topics such as the differences in IG's at local an d state level and IG's in federal positions and the evolution of IG's role in government as well.

In this episode we discuss public procurement system current and how AI affects these essential public services with Solomon Kingston. Solomon is the Interim Chief Cooperative Procurement Officer of NASPO, a non-profit dedicated to helping state governments improve their public procurement practices nationwide.

In the ninth episode of the Public Money Pod, we talk to the Inspector General for the City of Chicago, Deborah Witzburg about keeping public agencies accountable to the tax payers. Previously, she served as the City’s Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety, overseeing independent, objective evaluations and reviews of Chicago’s police and police accountability agencies, and also served as OIG’...

Ricky Hernandez is the Chief Financial Officer for the Tucson Unified School District and In this episode we look at ESSER funding as well as ESAs or "Empowerment Scholarship Accounts". We examine the implications of the school vouchers, which came about after the pandemic, on city budgets.