State & Local Daily Digest: S.C.’s Federal Disaster Relief; Philly’s $400 Million Soda Tax Funding
A truck rests off a washed out road outside of Columbia, S.C., after a week of steady rain last fall associated with Hurricane Joaquin. Chuck Burton / AP File Photo
Also in our news roundup: Jersey City’s minimum wage hike; Sacramento’s Seattle inspiration; and a squirrel monkey is not a “commonly kept animal.”
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA
DISASTER RECOVERY | State agencies and local jurisdictions impacted by last fall’s historic rainfall and flooding will divide nearly $157 million in federal disaster recovery funding. $98 million will go to South Carolina’s state government while $23.5 million will go to Richland County, $20 million to the city of Columbia and $16.3 million to Lexington County. [The State]
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
MUNICIPAL BUDGETING | Mayor Jim Kenney thinks a proposed three-cents-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks could help generate $400 million in needed funding for universal pre-K, development and jobs programs. While six of the 17 members of the Philadelphia City Council appear open to the soda tax, restaurant lobbyists and unions who represent beverage distributors are promising a fight. [The Inquirer via Philly.com]
PIERRE, SOUTH DAKOTA
MEDICAID EXPANSION | Now that the South Dakota state legislature is in its final two weeks, we know what’s unlikely to come up on the agenda: expanding Medicaid eligibility for needy state residents. Gov. Dennis Daugaard said that he’s not going to push the Medicaid issue and wouldn’t make any such move without the blessing of state and tribal lawmakers. [Argus Leader]
PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA
TRANSPORTATION | Ride-booking services Uber and Lyft have been given the green light to continue to operate under existing rules in Palm Beach County for two more months. County commissioners hope that statewide regulations will be adopted for services like Uber and Lyft. [Sun-Sentinel]
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
CITY GOVERNMENT | Conceding that 2015 was a “challenging” year for her administration and the city its serves, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake delivered her final State of the City address on Monday saying that Maryland’s largest municipality “is stronger today” than when she became mayor. “No words can truly capture the range of emotions we experienced together as our city endured the traumatic events of last spring,” Rawlings-Blake said, referring to the riots and turmoil that followed after the death of Freddie Gray. “And the surge in violence that followed tested our resolve even further.” [Baltimore Brew]
Digest continues below ...
BOISE, IDAHO
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | Idaho’s state capital is booming, and by the end of the decade, new projects in the pipeline could double the number of residences downtown—that’s about new 1,000 residences. “Boise Downtown is well below the national average of jobs to housing ratio,” one real estate agent said. “We can absorb a lot more housing Downtown, and a thousand was just a start.” [Treasure magazine via Idaho Statesman]
JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY
MINIMUM WAGE | Mayor Steve Fulop issued an executive order on Monday increasing the city’s minimum wage for public employees to $15 per hour. "Not only is this the right thing for Jersey City, but it's my hope that our actions today will help move Trenton towards providing all New Jerseyans a living wage," the mayor said. [Jersey Journal via NJ.com]
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
HOMELESSNESS | Municipal leaders in California’s capital city have been looking to Seattle for inspiration on how to manage increasing homeless populations, and on Monday, during a Sacramento City Council subcommittee meeting, discussed whether to adapt tactics from the Emerald City. While tent cities aren’t necessarily an ideal long-term solution, Seattle’s tent cities are organized on a self-governance model, which can help create social stability within the tent city ecosystem. [The Sacramento Bee]
TULSA, OKLAHOMA
CORRECTIONS | A forensic auditor and state investigators will probe a fund for Tulsa Jail inmates, which a State Auditor and Inspector’s Office report discovered was missing nearly $200,000. That audit also found that an employee who had worked for the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office continued to receive a paycheck 11 months after being terminated—that unauthorized compensation totaled more than $36,000. [The Tulsa World]
BAY CITY, MICHIGAN
ANIMALS | If you’re going to spend a not insignificant amount of money on a special squirrel monkey, you should probably double-check municipal rules for keeping such an animal before you fork over a $2,000 deposit to a breeder. "We do not consider a monkey a commonly kept animal," according to Bay City’s deputy city manager. [Bay City Times via MLive.com]
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Michael Grass is Executive Editor of Government Executive’s Route Fifty.
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