‘Our state governments treat our local governments worse that umpires treat the Nationals’ – Dan Gilmartin Speaks in Washington D.C. Today
Michigan Municipal League CEO and Executive Director Dan Gilmartin was in Washington D.C. today participating in a panel discussion about the fiscal conditions of cities throughout the nation.
Gilmartin discussed the ongoing concerns of the SaveMICity initiative in speaking about the financial plight facing Michigan communities and how Michigan ranks dead last in the nation when it comes to state financial support for our communities. Other panelists were Kim Hart, Juan Garza, and Melanie Hartzog.
“Our state governments treat our local governments worse that umpires treat the Nationals,” Gilmartin said during the event, referencing the ongoing World Series between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros. “… Yes, we’ve had economic issues in the Midwest. But state governments have dealt with this through austerity – which is not an economic development tool.”
The panel discussion took place Monday, Oct. 28, during the National League of Cities (NLC) 34th annual City Fiscal Conditions panel and report launch. The event focused on forecasts for the next recession and how international trade is impacting local economies. For this annual fiscal conditions report, the NLC analyzed fiscal trends and survey results from over 500 cities, towns and villages. And for the first time in seven years, cities, towns and villages anticipate a decline in revenue as they close the books on fiscal year 2019.
The event, which took place at the National League of Cities City-County Leadership Conference Center, opened with comments from NLC CEO and Executive Director Clarence Anthony about the report. The announcement and event was covered by multiple media outets live, including CSPAN, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News. Here’s an article about the report by US News and World Report. Here’s an excerpt from that article: Nearly two-thirds of finance officers in major U.S. cities predict a recession will hit the U.S. by the end of 2020, according to a new report that suggests city officials are fearing the worst from the economy as general fund revenue, business investment and housing market growth slow nationwide.
The National League of Cities, an advocacy organization for U.S. cities, on Monday published the latest iteration of its City Fiscal Conditions report, which found that 63% of finance officers in cities with populations north of 300,000 think a recession will hit by the end of next year. Nearly half of finance officers in mid-sized cities with populations between 100,000 and 300,000 said the same.
From a trend perspective, Michigan communities – the true drivers of economic prosperity – can’t thrive under Michigan’s current system for funding communities. The current system is broken and must be fixed in order to create great places that attract talent and business.
For more than a decade in Michigan, we’ve seen money diverted away from local services by the state, steep drops in taxable values that are horribly constrained by conflicting tax laws, and little or no ability to solve the problem locally.
The NLC report show that Investment in local government is at an all-time low in our state.
The NLC represents more than 200 million people and is the voice of America’s cities, towns and villages. According to the NLC, nearly two in three finance officers in large cities now predict a recession as soon as 2020. Given the state of municipal finance here in Michigan, residents should be very interested in learning more about how the country and the state of Michigan are going to prepare for the next recession and how fiscal trends will impact their lives.
