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Posted on October 11, 2017
According to a report by the National League of Cities, U.S. cities’ revenue growth will shrink for the second consecutive year in 2017. The findings in “City Fiscal Conditions 2017,” based on a survey of finance officers from 261 cities, “signal a trend that was last seen in 2006 before the Great Recession.”
Key discoveries include:
- “General Fund revenues are slowing. General Fund revenues grew by 2.61% in 2016, and revenues are projected to stagnate with just 0.9% growth in 2017.”
- “Property tax revenue growth is budgeted much lower than in 2016. Finance officers have budgeted for 1.6% growth in property tax revenues in 2017, compared to 4.3% in 2016.”
- “Finance officers project a decline in sales and income tax revenues for 2017. Both sales and income tax revenues grew in 2016 (by 3.7% and 2.4%, respectively), but finance officers project a decline in 2017 (by 0.2% and 2.7%, respectively).”
- “Confidence of municipal finance officers has waned. Although the majority of finance officers (69%) are confident in the fiscal position of their cities, widespread optimism hit its peak in 2015.”
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