2019 City Fiscal Conditions panel and report launch
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, according to the National League of Cities.
Approximately 75 to 100 local government officials, employees, staffers, federal officials, researchers, financial analysts and urban policy thought leaders will meet under one roof at the 2019 City Fiscal Conditions panel and report launch on Monday, October 28.
The National League of Cities analyzed fiscal trends and survey results from more than 500 cities, towns and villages. These trends are summarized in the National League of Cities’ 2019 City Fiscal Conditions survey, which is a national mail and online survey of finance officers in United States cities. According to the NLC, it is the only report of its kind for cities.
From a trend perspective, Michigan communities – the true drivers of economic prosperity – can’t thrive with our broken municipal finance system. This means we can’t create great places that attract talent and business.
For more than a decade, 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.
Investment in local government is at an all-time low in our state. In fact. Michigan ranks dead last in its municipal funding levels for cities and villages.
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.
The 2019 City Fiscal Conditions panel and report launch will feature a meeting of the minds in terms of relaying information back to our local communities about what policy makers can do to implement change in the upcoming year. Michigan’s cities, towns and villages need to be as fiscally prepared as possible for a long-term recession.
The NLC event will include opening remarks by Clarence Anthony, NLC CEO and Executive Director, a presentation of the 2019 report, a panel discussion and an audience question and answer segment.
The report will be presented by Christina McFarland, NLC research director, and Michael Pagano, dean of the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs and director of the Government Finance Research Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Panelists at the event include Kim Hart, Juan Garza, Melanie Hartzog, and Dan Gilmartin, Executive Director and CEO of the Michigan Municipal League, which sponsors the SaveMICity program.
Call time for the event is 11:35 a.m., speaking time will be 12:45-1:30 p.m. and the audience question and answer portion will run from 1:30-1:50 p.m.
For more information about the event, visit: https://www.nlc.org/event/city-fiscal-conditions-2019.