Direct Federal Financial Assistance to Cities
Adopted at the in 2010
WHEREAS, United States cities from large urban centers to small suburban villages are facing mounting budget shortfalls and very difficult choices about how to fund vital city services for residents; and
WHEREAS, the steps cities are being forced to take to address budget shortfalls includes: laying off substantial numbers of employees; imposing unpaid furlough days and wage reductions; eliminating or reducing critical city services; imposing substantial tax increases; and increasing fees for services; and
WHEREAS, for most cities, the strength of local revenues is dependent on the key areas of the economy which are suffering tremendous losses during this recession, including employment, consumer spending and the real estate market; and
WHEREAS, it is widely believed that fiscal recovery for cities will lag behind a broader, national economic recovery; and
WHEREAS, while the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus funds were key to helping the growing number of people in need and providing essential infrastructure investment for cities, the ARRA funds did not directly address the revenue losses most cities are experiencing; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Conference of Mayors reported that less than 1% of ARRA funds were provided directly to cities, and while ARRA has provided billions to help states alleviate budget shortfalls, no such assistance was provided to cities; and
WHEREAS, in the 1970s, the federal government enacted two programs to provide assistance to local governments: the General Revenue Sharing program and the Anti-Recession Fiscal Assistance Program; and
WHEREAS, those fiscal assistance programs were intended to support local governments in an economic downturn, primarily to stabilize their budgets and preempt budgetary actions that might otherwise run counter to federal fiscal policy; and
WHEREAS, cities are in critical need of federal assistance to help stabilize local budgets until the economic recovery is fully realized in local revenue sources, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Conference urges the United States Congress to develop a program for direct financial assistance to cities based on defined criteria such as the extent to which cities' revenues have contracted since 2008; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Conference believes cities should be granted the authority to re-program unallocated recovery funds or other federal grant funds toward critical city services.