by Ken Rosenfeld

The Finance, Administration and Intergovernmental Relations (FAIR) steering committee met to focus on the long-term outlook for tax reform and the potential effects on the nation?s cities and towns at its fall meeting, held in San Antonio, Oct. 12-14.

The committee, chaired by Councilmember Mike Kasperzak of Mountain View, Calif., approved a number of resolutions and held several brainstorming sessions, which will help direct NLC efforts.

The committee?s activities follow the NLC Action Plan on Reforming the System of Public Finance, which was approved by the board of directors in July. The plan calls for a multi-year set of actions, including analysis, advocacy, messaging and support for local action.

Delving into the details of tax reform issues, the committee heard a presentation by Kim Rueben of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, regarding state and local deductibility and the Alternative Minimum Tax. The committee then held the first of what will be a series of discussions aimed at sorting through priorities for cities in potential tax reform strategies.

With a multitude of tax and finance issues currently facing cities, the committee also held an exercise to determine NLC priorities for training opportunities and information sharing. An additional discussion gave the committee an opportunity to share initial thoughts on framing messages to gain widespread support for sensible tax reform.

Committee members also discussed the new standards from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, requiring municipalities to report Other Post-Employment Benefits, or OPEB, which are benefits other than pensions, earned by employees each year. The issue has potentially far-reaching implications for municipal budgets, and the committee will determine how to best circulate pertinent information to cities and towns.

The committee forwarded for renewal several current NLC resolutions, and approved for consideration a new resolution in support of the Federal Consent Decree Fairness Act. The committee also approved a new executive summary of the FAIR chapter in the National Municipal Policy, and began work on a proposed glossary section to be appended to the chapter.

The steering committee will next bring its recommendations to the FAIR policy and advocacy committee, which will meet Dec. 6 at the Congress of Cities and Exposition in Reno, Nev.