Health Disasters and Local Government Finance: City of Dallas Budget Strategies During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The strong performance of the city of Dallas during the past decade has been bolstered by a diverse economic base of finance, information technology, defense, and construction industries that have raised the taxable assessed property values in Dallas significantly since 2012. Due in part to the stre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Municipal finance journal 2021-07, Vol.42 (2), p.29
Main Authors: Krueger, Skip, Fischer, Lauren Ames, Benavides, Abraham David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coronavirus Aid Relief & Economic Security Act 2020-US
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Federal funding
Local government
Municipal finance
Other postemployment benefits
Pandemics
Recessions
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Summary:The strong performance of the city of Dallas during the past decade has been bolstered by a diverse economic base of finance, information technology, defense, and construction industries that have raised the taxable assessed property values in Dallas significantly since 2012. Due in part to the strength of this base, Dallas experienced shorter durations of unemployment during COVID-19 than in previous recessions and was able to rely on standard recession strategies to deal with changes in sales tax revenue caused by the pandemic. The main lessons from the Dallas experience are to use periods of growth to build fund balances and to rely on income-inelastic revenue to balance the general fund during adverse events. The Dallas case also illustrates the importance of making strategic investments to reduce debt and of ensuring funding for pensions and other postemployment benefits and obligations, strategies that city officials had relied on less in the years leading up to the pandemic. Less strategically, the city also relied on significant CARES Act contributions and employee furloughs across many departments.
ISSN:0199-6134
1933-9321