The Fiscal Challenges Ahead for Cities

摘要

This issue of Western City focuses on municipal finance. So it seems appropriate to look at some of the major policy and fiscal challenges facing cities over the next five to 10 years and how the tools presented in this month's articles can be part of your overall fiscal management strategy. President Harry Truman, who coined the phrase "the buck stops here," also reportedly requested a one-armed economist. Apparently he was sick of economists proclaiming "on the one hand, this" and "on the other hand, that." Today's economists may be more willing to take a position, but they don't always agree. Some recent economic projections in our state illustrate this point. The UCLA Anderson School of Management economic forecast released Sept. 11, 2014, includes this statement about conditions in California: "The California economy is moving forward in an expansion from the depths of the Great Recession. But, even though the number of jobs is now higher than at any time in the past, the state remains below its potential in output and employment. That we are entering the sixth year of expansion illustrates just how painfully plodding this recovery process has been."