With No Federal Help Coming, Cities Cling to the Financial Cliff
State and local governments have been left out of a Covid stimulus deal, even as nearly 3 in 10 cities say they will be “significantly impacted” without federal relief.
Louisville, Kentucky, with an estimated a $115 million budget shortfall for the coming year, is one of many cities that are looking for federal help. “Mayors across the country are alarmed, perplexed and livid” about the lack of funds for cities in the Covid relief bill, said Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Photographer: Stacie Scott/Bloomberg
No level of government has escaped harm or fiscal damage related to the coronavirus crisis. But the fluctuations in municipal revenue caused by the pandemic — left conspicuously unaddressed by the latest version of a federal stimulus bill — reflect both long-term trouble for U.S. cities and the deeply uneven state of local economies.
As of Friday, the $900 billion Covid-19 stimulus bill, negotiated in tandem with a $1.4 trillion stopgap funding package to keep the government open, includes money for vaccine distribution and schools, $300-a-week jobless benefits, roughly $300 billion in new small business loans, and a new round of $600-per-person stimulus checks. But direct relief for states and cities that have been hammered by revenue losses does not appear to be forthcoming.