Displaying 41 - 60 of 84 in total
A stemwinder on sales tax, staffing, supply chains, speed bumps, and scooters
Chad and Pat are back with a wide ranging discussion, including upcoming sales tax numbers, inflation's impact on pay, Austin's minimum PD staffing proposition, zoning...
What to expect when expecting to be a city manager
We turn away from current events and offer some advice for first time city manager job seekers. From understanding your own comfort level and skill set, to doing your ...
Don't buy AirPods at the airport
In this episode, we assess the state of post-Covid sales tax recovery in Texas, talk about proposals to replace property taxes with a value added tax, and wrap up with...
The sky probably isn't falling, and why a national infrastructure bank isn't helpful
After a brief hiatus, we're back talking about a proposal for a National Infrastructure Bank, and we revisit the recommendations GFOA made to help cities weather the f...
Sales Taxes and Covid Vaxxes
We debate the merits of Covid vaccine incentives; the Comptroller releases top-line sales tax numbers for March sales; an update on HB 4072; and some half-baked ideas ...
HB 4072 (and all-time great baseball movies)
We talk about HB 4072, a bill being considered in the Texas Legislature that would fundamentally alter the way sales taxes are allocated to local governments. Along th...
Dark Stores and Coachless Teams
On this supersized episode, more on the Dark Store appraisal theory, why we don't like property taxes, and is your organizational culture preventing you from hiring th...
Fighting the wrong fight on property tax reform
Texas cities have been fighting the state legislature over property tax revenue caps for years, but what if they've just been a symptom of the underlying problem? In t...
The one Patrick expects a lot of feedback on
In this grab bag episode: parking violation snitching, poo in the river, endangered affordable housing, Texas' convoluted property tax system, the City of Denton sues ...
Happy Texas Independence (from masks) Day!
On Tuesday, March 2, Texas Governor Abbott has declared an end to state mask mandates and a near-complete reopening of Texas business. We discuss whether this makes se...
Back in the saddle
After a brief podcasting break, Patrick and Chad return for a semi-random discussion about whatever was on our mind. Topics include property tax analytics, the upcomin...
Sales Tax (Post) Gameday - February 2021
After a brief hiatus, we're back with a somewhat meandering sales tax gameday. Join us as we dig into February sales tax allocations across the state of Texas and a wh...
Greg Abbott: City Manager
Texas Governor Greg Abbott wants to take over policing of downtown Austin. We talk about Texas' continuing shift away from limited government/local control and what it...
Czech yourself before you wreck yourself
In a special, barely-related-to-city-government episode, Cody Janicek joins us from Prague to talk Covid, living in Europe as an American, growing up with Chad, and co...
The "Chad's Mannerisms" episode
Google announces a "No-Meetings Week", and CityLab discusses the downsides of open floor plans.
Sales Tax Gameday - November 2020
Often imitated, never duplicated. It's the one and only Sales Tax Gameday! We dive into the highs and lows of a bounce back month, announce the first ever Sales Tax Ga...
Covid resurgence, broken ice cream, street grids, and murder hornets
In what might be our nerdiest episode yet, we talk about the recent surges of Covid-19 and street grids, a software engineer who hacked McDonald's to find out which ic...
Sales Tax Gameday - October 2020
We recap our TeamZac projections and then dive right in to October 2020's sales tax collections across the state of Texas. Who won? Who lost? Let's find out!
Round Robin - From AirBNB to our national treasure, Mike Leach
We're scattershooting today! AirBNB is piloting a new City Portal; CityLab analyzes whether cities defunded the police in FY21; a San Antonio billionaire wants to pay ...
Sales Tax Gameday - September 2020
Temperatures drop, and so does sales tax. Patrick and Chad continue the new monthly feature of totally on-the-fly exploratory analysis of city sales tax collections. C...