COVID-19 may result in special session – Talk to your legislators now

Here at AWC, we thank city officials and city staff for your dedication to your communities during this unprecedented COVID-19 emergency. We know how hard you are working to support your residents and we are so grateful for all of you. At AWC we are doing our best to support you with updated information and resources on our website.

Through this emergency, we have continued to advocate for cities’ needs, particularly at the Governor’s office. We appreciate the action the Governor has taken in response to those requests, most notably by earmarking for cities significant federal funding from the CARES Act. Under the Governor’s plan, cities will receive up to $30 per capita on a reimbursement basis for eligible expenses.

As everyone knows, this health emergency has created an economic crisis. Cities and the state are seeing costs increase and revenues drop. As a result, the Governor vetoed some spending out of the recently adopted supplemental operating budget.

We are hearing that it is possible (and perhaps even likely) that the Legislature will convene for a special session. Such a session could focus on reducing spending given the loss of revenue to the state. If there is a special session, cities must be prepared. In anticipation for it, AWC’s Board Legislative Steering Committee adopted new Special Session Legislative Priorities. The priorities are:

• Financial support
  • Maintain critical state shared revenues that provide funding for essential public services.
  • Provide fiscal relief to cities hard hit with costs for emergency response and loss of tax revenue.
• Fiscal flexibility
  • Provide flexibility within existing restricted revenues to allow cities to use funds where they are most needed right now.
• Regulatory relief
  • Continue the emergency action taken by the Governor to provide flexibility on regulatory requirement sand statutory deadlines. Cities hard hit by this emergency may still be experiencing staffing shortages and back-logs that will impact their ability to comply with typical statutory deadlines and meet regulatory requirements.
• City-owned utility support
  • Allow city-owned utilities that have waived late fees and shut-offs to extend their ability to collect outstanding debt so that they can work with rate-payers on payment plans without impacting the financial viability of the utility or raising rates on other customers.
  • Provide funding to help offset losses related to forgiving late fees and delinquent accounts for those customers hard-hit by the emergency.
• Economic stimulus
  • Investing in public infrastructure projects is one of the best ways to support economic stimulus as infrastructure projects have a positive economic multiplier with the creation of family-wage jobs and supporting increased economic activity.
• Cities also support efforts to help the most vulnerable residents and our small businesses

We need all city officials to reach out to your legislators now. We know that you cannot meet in person, so give them a call, text, email, Zoom or whatever works for you. Talk to your legislators about what your cities have experienced with increased costs and lost revenue. Remind them that cities are the heart of our state’s economy and the first responders for keeping our communities safe. Share with them the priorities that AWC has identified and ask them for their support for action in any special session.

We need all city officials to reach out to your legislators now.

It is possible the Governor will call a special session of the Legislature if additional funding or emergency action is needed. Regardless, it seems obvious that state and local budgets will be significantly negatively impacted by the emergency. It is also possible the Governor will veto portions of the supplemental budgets in order to reduce costs in anticipation of lost revenue and increased expenditures.

Need some tips for talking to your legislators? Check out the Strong City Pocket Guide and view the video below.

Messages for cities to share with legislators:

• Talk about AWC’s Special Session Legislative Priorities (linked above).
• Brief them on your city’s emergency response efforts, including costs.
• Highlight any need for emergency financial support related to emergency response.
• Explain the impact of state-shared revenues on your city’s budget and its ability to provide services.
• Remind them that cities are the economic drivers for the state. The state benefits by supporting cities.
• Emphasize that we are all in this together and if we partner, we will be stronger.