After huge pandemic losses, governments see rapid rebound
ABC News
State and local governments reported more than $117 billion of revenue losses in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic
State and local governments lost at least $117 billion of expected revenue early in the pandemic, according to an Associated Press analysis, but many are now awash in record amounts of money, boosted partly by federal aid.
In response to the dramatic turnaround, governors, lawmakers and local officials have proposed a surge in spending as well as a new wave of tax cuts.
“The ultimate effect of the pandemic was a net positive,” said Stephen Parker, assistant city manager for the Los Angeles suburb of Upland, where sales tax revenues are soaring. "Isn’t that unbelievable? It’s just crazy to think of that.”
Upland, a city of 79,000, was representative of many cities at the outset of the pandemic. It reported an estimated loss of nearly $6.1 million in 2020 — the result of a steep but short-lived national recession and what Parker describes as a “generous” Treasury Department method for calculating losses. That figure was the median amount among more than 900 cities that reported their revenues to the department under the American Rescue Plan Act.
