Fiscal controls require monitoring and transparent reporting. Financial documents with multiple funds, transfers, and inconsistent year‐to‐year categorization of revenues and expenditures provide opportunities to obscure a negative fiscal picture. We hypothesize that fiscal stress increases obfuscation. We investigate the relationship between the share of total governmental expenditures in U.S. states' general funds and independent variables drawn from the literature. Consistent with our hypothesis, deficit and debt are the most important explanatory variables. A one standard deviation increase in the deficit as a share of total expenditures is predicted to decrease the general fund share by one percentage point.

Purpose Public transit is an essential service for people without access to an automobile, particularly those who are low income, elderly, or with disabilities. Previous research has found that large urban transit agencies receive less state funding per ride provided than suburban agencies. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach Using data from the National Transit Database for 37 of the largest US transit agencies, the authors create a panel data set of services provided and sources of operating funds for the period 1991-2009. The authors develop an equity index that represents the difference between the share of state funding that an agency receives and the share of the total transit rides in the state that it provides. The authors use fixed-effects regression modeling to examine the determinants of fiscal balance and the equity index. Findings The authors find that the share of an agency’s operating funds that come from dedicated taxes is a significant predictor of fiscal health as measured by its fiscal balance; reliance on passenger fares and provision of bus service are significant predictors of operating deficits. The equity index finds that large agencies receive less than their fair share of state transit funding based on ridership. Practical implications Dedicated tax revenues are a key ingredient to transit agencies’ fiscal stability. Transit agencies’ fiscal condition in states and localities that do not have a dedicated tax could benefit from such a tax. Social implications Transit is an essential service for people who are unable to drive or own an automobile; funding inequities maintain old patterns of segregation and isolation for “transit dependents.” Originality/value This study supports earlier research finding that large agencies receive less than their fair share of state funding based on ridership. It contributes to the literature on transportation equity and transit finance.

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We have 24 faculty members over 3 campuses (Chicago, Urbana-Champaign, Springfield) and we don't have a political agenda. Basics of Budgeting in IllinoisState finances work much like your finances at home. The state has income (revenue) and expenses (sometimes called expenditures). It also has a bank account of sorts (called a fund balance).Each year, the state comes up with a budget for the year, and then tries to stick to that budget throughout the year.