Budgets & Funding

Source: Arizona Department of Transportation  The Arizona Department of Transportation will open an additional comment period for the revised 2021-2025 Tentative Five-Year Transportation Facilities Construction Program on Friday, September 18th. The additional comment period will extend through Tuesday, October 27th.  The State Transportation …

Budget, Policy & Stimulus News  Yuma County to Contribute to State Relief Fund  The Yuma County Board of Supervisors voted to fund a state-sponsored relief grant program designed to help small businesses in the unincorporated areas of …

Budget, Policy & Stimulus News Republican Stimulus Proposal Includes 2nd PPP, New Protections Small businesses could see a second round of Paycheck Protection Program loans and legal liability protections from COVID-19-related claims under a new, …

Budget, Policy & Stimulus News  Many Businesses Opting Out of Payroll Tax Deferral  The decision to let employers defer payroll taxes is part of the Trump administration’s effort to boost the economy absent any action …

Economic News  Pandemic Exposes Stress in Commercial Property Financing  The severity of the COVID-19 crisis has revealed extreme stresses in one of its primary sources of commercial property financing; the $1.4T market for commercial mortgage-backed securities. “I don’t think anyone foresaw the devastation …

Budget, Policy & Stimulus News  New PPP Rules Could Change Forgiveness Calculations  New rules issued by the Small Business Administration could make some Paycheck Protection Program borrowers’ rent or mortgage interest payments ineligible for forgiveness. Generally, the rules of …

Budget, Policy & Stimulus News  Scottsdale Still Accepting Reimbursement Applications  Small businesses in Scottsdale can receive up to $5K in reimbursement grants for their costs related to COVID-19. The city is still accepting applications for the Small Business Reimbursement …

Budget, Policy & Stimulus News  $730M Coming to 90K Displaced Ariz. Workers  Nearly 100,000 Arizonans who have lost jobs during the pandemic are about to finally receive thousands of dollars each in jobless benefits, according …

Budget, Policy & Stimulus News  Three Tax Breaks for Liquidity During Crisis  Wading through the tax legislation implications of the 2017 tax reform and 2020 CARES Act can be overwhelming for many real estate companies. Three tax breaks, however, …

Economic News  Online Shopping & Delivery Squeezes Landlords  Digital grocery sales have soared, but potential aftershocks are significant for smaller tenants that occupy grocer-anchored centers that depend on grocers to draw in customers. Those tenants pay higher rents than they …

Economic News  80 Percent of Retail Tenants Paid July Rent  Fewer than 60 percent of national brand retail tenants paid their rents in May, but 80 percent mailed the checks in July, according to the Datex Tenant Track of more than 1,000 shopping centers and tens …

Budget, Policy & Stimulus News  Phoenix Has $9M+ Left for Business Grants  With more than $9M still left sitting idle in a Phoenix grant program set up to help small businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic, city officials …

Budget, Policy & Stimulus News  $100M PPP Payments to Charter Schools Investigated  State Schools Superintendent Kathy Hoffman and Arizona Deputy Auditor General Melanie Chesney are examining whether the $100M in Paycheck Protection Program payments to charter schools in Arizona violate …

Budget, Policy & Stimulus News  Republicans Unveil New $1T Relief Package  Republicans in the U.S. Senate unveiled a roughly $1T stimulus package, titled the HEALS Act, geared toward reopening the economy. Key provisions include stimulus checks to …

Economic News  Who Foots the Bill for COVID Building Changes  Incremental operating costs for office buildings could increase by at least $19.40/SF or 5.8 percent of average annual office rents at the beginning of 2020, according to …

Budget, Policy & Stimulus News  Lawmakers Trying to Push Through New Relief  Democrats and Republicans remain divided on what a next potential federal stimulus package should look like, but lawmakers “are going to be in an all-out sprint” …

Economic News  No Crash Predicted for Metro Phoenix  The Phoenix area’s housing market is showing no signs of crashing despite job losses and other economic hits because of COVID-19. Contracts to buy Phoenix-area homes priced above $300K soared over the past …

Economic News  Hotel Outlook Worsens, Again  Despite some encouraging numbers a few weeks ago, the increasing spikes in COVID-19 numbers have once again created a downturn in the U.S. hotel industry, according to a recent report in National …

Budget, Policy & Stimulus News  Navajo Nation Approves Initial Aid Expenditures  The Navajo Nation‘s leaders over the weekend approved the tribe’s first expenditures of more than $60M in federal COVID-19 aid, about two months after receiving most of the funds in May. The …

Budget, Policy & Stimulus News  Scottsdale Allocates Relief Funds  On July 1st, Scottsdale City Council accepted $29,628,014 from the AZCares Fund as part of the federal CARES Act. Uses range from utility assistance for residents to providing retrofitting to city businesses that house …

Source: Rio Nuevo  Facing a substantial reduction in next year’s revenue due to COVID-19, the Rio Nuevo Board approved a break-even budget reflecting an estimated $6M reduction in annual state tax revenue. The District has been dramatically impacted by COVID-19 related business closures and the subsequent economic slowdown.   …

Budget, Policy & Stimulus News  Virus Surge May Force More Business Relief  Because more than $130B remains in funding from the Paycheck Protection Program, Congress has approved a six-week extension for applications. There is speculation that, due to a …

Budget, Policy & Stimulus News  State Budget Expecting $700M Hit  Arizona’s economy has performed better than anticipated since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, but the state is still projected to see a $700M shortfall, according to the legislature’s top budget …