CHART OF THE MONTH: US CITIES TRIM THEIR WATER BUDGETS

摘要

This month's chart is based on a survey by market analysts at Boenning & Scattergood, looking at proposed budget cuts by selected US water utilities for the July 2020 to June 2021 fiscal year, as compared to the current fiscal year. Although it is not necessarily a representative sample, it shows that some utilities are considering paring back their capital spending quite substantially in the coming year. There are three ways of interpreting the data. Either it could be a sign that utilities are looking to build their cash reserves as a result of seeing revenues fall and receivables rise during the COVID-19 crisis. Alternatively, it could be a sign that utilities are expecting some kind of federal infrastructure stimulus package to be announced, and they don't want the federal government to think that it is financing projects which would have gone ahead anyway.