Happening Now in Cities/ Metro Areas (US Conference of Mayors Budget Survey)
In an effort to better understand the employment and city budget crises faced by cities today, the Conference of Mayors conducted a brief survey of America’s mayors. One hundred and fifty cities ranging in size from Los Angeles and Chicago to those having populations fewer than 10,000 responded.
Some key findings were:
• The three employment sectors most often identified by mayors as experiencing the highest levels of unemployment
are construction (by 75 percent), manufacturing (by 56 percent), and retail (by 44 percent).
• Two-thirds of the cities project that they will experience a budget shortfall in the current fiscal year.
• Nearly three-fourths of the mayors (74 percent) report that cuts in state funding to their cities (either grants or
passed-through revenues) have contributed to their budget shortfalls.
• Actions most often being taken to avoid budget shortfalls this year include postponing projects or initiatives
(by 81 percent), eliminating city positions through attrition (by 75 percent), and reducing purchasing
and procurement (by 73 percent).
• More than four in five mayors responding (81 percent) anticipate a budget shortfall in their next fiscal year.
• Half of the mayors report that their budget situation has affected their ability to engage in job-creating
projects.
• Mayors say that additional federal assistance can be most effective in creating jobs and meeting local
needs if it is focused on local transportation projects such as transit, roads, and bridges (91 percent of
the mayors cite this), community and economic development (85 percent cite this), water and sewer projects
(71 percent cite this), energy and environmental projects (66 percent cite this), and public safety personnel
(56 percent cite this).
• Most mayors (62 percent) believe that conditions in their cities are serious enough that a program of targeted
fiscal assistance is warranted to help prevent further drastic city budget reductions.
