WASHINGTON, D.C. – Many cities will have to struggle to make ends meet for the next two years, according to a report from the Washington-based National League of Cities (NLC). NLC’s City Fiscal Conditions in 2008 report predicted that, even if overall economic conditions improved now, cities could be reeling until 2010, according to American City & County magazine.

A key finding in the report is that cities are suffering not only from a continuing decline in property tax revenues (down 3.6 percent from the prior year, in inflation-adjusted terms), but a drop in other revenue, too, such as sales tax (down 4.2 percent) and income tax (down 3.3 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars). As a result, 64 percent of the city finance officers interviewed for the report said their cities would find it hard to meet their fiscal needs in 2008, and 79 percent said the struggle would be even harder in 2009.

The entire report is available at: http://www.nlc.org/articles/articleItems/NCW91508/fiscalreport2008.aspx.