A Glimpse Into the Fiscal Gloom Bearing Down on America’s Cities

In Cincinnati, a city of 300,000 on the banks of the Ohio River, Mayor John Cranley faces cuts to police, fire and sanitation without more help from Washington.

The city has already had to tiptoe back from the fiscal abyss earlier this year by temporarily laying off one-quarter of its workforce and balancing its budget with debt. Seventy percent of Cincinnati’s revenue comes from taxes on wages, and with the coronavirus continuing to spread, leaving record joblessness in its wake, Cranley said he fears permanent declines in essential services.

“Frankly, we need a bridge for an economic recovery,” Cranley said in an interview. “What we’re talking about is stabilizing our existing services and figuring out how they don’t get diminished.”