COVID-19 Adverse Affect on City Budgets
article from SmartCityDive Apr2020
Only 36 of more than 19,000 U.S. cities are eligible for relief funding from the CARES Act. The National League of Cities and U.S. Conference of Mayors are demanding $250 billion for those left out.
Pandemic costs are ‘blowing massive holes’ in cities’ budgets
Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and the National League of Cities (NLC) conducted a survey of more than 2,400 local officials, of which 88% of respondents said they anticipate the novel coronavirus pandemic will lead to “painful reductions in revenue this year.” Of these respondents, 1,968 represent cities with populations of less than 500,000, which did not receive support from the recent Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) stimulus package.
- The survey found 96% of cities are seeing budget shortfalls due to unanticipated revenue declines, which are a result of lost revenue sources from services such as permitting fees, utility fees and sales taxes.
- To alleviate this strain on governments, USCM and NLC are calling on Congress to issue $250 billion in emergency funding for all communities seeking COVID-19 relief.