Special Briefing: Fiscal and Operational Priorities for Cities in the COVID Crisis Era

Penn IUR and the Volcker Alliance will host an online briefing to discuss how US mayors are managing the fiscal, societal, and operational stresses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the National League of Cities, American municipalities expect on average a 13 percent decline in FY 2021 general fund revenues over 2020, while almost 90 percent of cities will be less able in FY 2021 than in FY 2020 to meet the fiscal needs of their communities. At the same time, they are facing rising calls for social justice and resistance in the Senate and the White House for additional federal pandemic aid beyond the $2 trillion CARES act passed earlier this year. Navigating this unprecedented mix of challenges will require innovative fiscal and managerial actions that our panel of experts are prepared to discuss.

Moderated by William Glasgall, Senior Vice President and Director of State and Local Initiatives, Volcker Alliance, and Penn IUR Co-Director Susan Wachter, this briefing will be the thirteenth in a series of 60-minute online conversations featuring experts from the Volcker Alliance’s national research network and Penn IUR, along with other leading academics, economists, and fiscal policy leaders from around the U.S.

This special briefing will feature presentations by Linda J. Blimes, Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; Andrew Reschovsky, Professor Emeritus of Public Affairs and Applied Economics, Robert M. LaFollette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Bill Lucia, Senior Reporter, Route Fifty; and Andrew Rein, President, Citizens Budget Commission.