Don't Read This Post If You Are Easily Upset

Link to October 7 New York Times article, "Financial Crisis Takes a Toll on Already-Squeezed Cities".

Excerpts:
Duluth:
After the layoff of 160 full-time and part-time city workers, the slashing of recreation programs and a call for volunteers to shelve books at the branch libraries (open two days a week now instead of six), the people of Duluth, Minn., thought they had seen the worst of a bad year for the municipal budget.

Phoenix: “We try to cut programs and services that impact the public the least,” said Toni Maccarone, a spokeswoman for the City of Phoenix. “Unfortunately, this time around, there’s going to be direct service cuts. That’s what makes it so hard. It’s police and fire, and parks and senior services, libraries.”

General picture:
In a survey of more than 300 municipalities released last month, the National League of Cities reported that four out of five finance officers said their cities would be less able to meet needs in 2009 than this year. The group called the findings troubling, with no sign of getting better.

“This is the first time for at least two decades that all three major general tax sources — property, income and sales — have all declined at the same time,” said Michael A. Pagano, a co-author of the report and dean of the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, Chicago. “That’s the real frightening thing for cities.”