Despite nearly a decade since the onset of the Great Recession, local governments’fiscal situation has only recently rebounded. After six straight years of declining general fund revenue, this uneven recovery continues to struggle. And, as shown in several recent reports, local governments still face significant fiscal headwinds.

First, the National League of Cities (NLC) issued the 2015 edition of its annual City Fiscal Conditionsreport in October 2015, which found that despite three consecutive years of growing revenues, cities still have not seen revenues return to their pre-recession levels.1

On the revenue side, after six straight years of declining general fund revenues between 2007 and 2012, the slight uptick in revenues that began in 2013 flattened out in 2015, with a projected increase of 0.31% over 2014 levels. This suggests that while local general fund revenues may have hit bottom in 2012 and reversed direction, they nonetheless may remain in a holding pattern of indefinite duration. Further, the NLC report finds that as of 2015, cities are operating at only 91.6% of 2006 peak revenues, and if current trends continue, it may take several more years for revenues to exceed their pre-recession levels.

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