After massive pandemic losses, Governments notice a quick rebound
Key takeaways:
- State and regional governments reported almost $117 billion of revenue losses in the foremost year of the coronavirus pandemic.
- After evaluating a loss in revenue in the early months of the pandemic in 2020, city officials state Upland is now doing sufficient financially, raised partially by federal pandemic help.
- The city intends to utilize part of that to help repave parking lots and fix hundreds of sections of sidewalks.
'Federal Pandemic Aid' helps recover from pandemic losses:
State and local governments lost at least $117 billion of anticipated revenue earlier in the pandemic, according to an Associated Press study. Still, numerous are now rampant in record amounts of money, raised partially by federal help.
In reaction to the dramatic turnaround, governors, lawmakers, and local officials have suggested a wave in spending as well as a new surge of tax cuts.
"The top effect of the pandemic was a net positive," stated Stephen Parker, assistant city manager for the Los Angeles suburb of Upland, where deals tax payments are skyrocketing. "Isn't that incredible? It's just fantastic to think of that."
Upland, a city of 79,000, was an example of multiple cities at the beginning of the pandemic.
It reported an estimated loss of about $6.1 million in 2020 due to a steep but short-lived national slump and what Parker defines as a "generous" Treasury Department way for estimating losses. That figure was the median amount among almost 900 cities that declared their earnings to the department under the American Rescue Plan Act.