Underground Construction - February 2021 - 21

budgets would actually increase in 2021.
" We're staying the course this year, "
said a muni manager from the Rocky
Mountain region. " We've got no choice,
as our systems really need to be upgraded
and we don't want to get in trouble with
regulators. "
Said a Southeast municipal official, " we
actually feel confident about our budget
this year due to a variety of factors. "
Respondents ranged in size from rural
communities of less than 1,000, mid-sized
cities, and a representative sampling of
the nation's largest municipalities.
" No doubt it's been a very rough year
for us, " said this municipal manager
for an Upper Midwest community.
" While the economy always impacts us,
this virus thing was something different
and no way were we prepared for it. "
As office buildings closed (some
remain so), they were quickly followed
by the shutdown of retail businesses,
restaurants and bars. Though many
businesses were able to quickly transition
to a work-from-home structure, the
impact on commercial and retail
businesses was devastating. With the
shutdown of factories, distribution nodes
and even large sections of construction,
the American economy took a nose dive.
While Amazon and similar internet-based
business templates prospered, their tax
liabilities are only at the state levels.
Local retail stores and shops struggled
to survive at a much-reduced volume,
thus eliminating essential tax sources
for local communities.
Further, the fear of COVID-19 has
spawned long-term travel bans by most
U.S. businesses, including municipalities
and engineering firms, not just as a
budget-cutting measure, but primarily
to keep employees from risking exposure
to the virus. This has prompted an even
greater loss in revenue for cities heavily
dependent on tourism and meetings, such
as Orlando, New Orleans and Las Vegas.
" The city budget has really been
restructured and tightened in 2021 - for

everything, not just sewer and water, "
pointed out a respondent from the
Atlantic Mid-Coast region. " Typically,
we get a lot of tourist traffic pumping
dollars into our economy, but that came
to an abrupt stop by March (2020). "
Now more than, perhaps ever, an
industry that historically has always
been under-funded and constantly
challenged to meet needs and growth
patterns of communities, finds itself
in an even more dire condition.
The mountain of work needed to
expand and rehabilitate America's
sewer and water infrastructure just got
substantially taller and steeper.

Starting the climb back
As mentioned earlier, the good news
on the health front is equating to a
recovering economy. An influx of federal
dollars will help boost spending abilities
of many cities, through inclusion of
substantial funding for federal programs
in FY21 budget passed by Congress in
late December. Included was:
* $1.6 billion in the Clean Water
State Revolving Fund
* $1.1 billion for the Drinking Water
State Revolving Fund

* $59.5 million for the EPW Water
Infrastructure Financing &
Innovation Act
* $40 million for the Overflow
Control & Stormwater Municipal
Reuse Grant Program
* $25 billion in a COVID relief package
for renter assistance that allows those
funds to help pay for drinking water
and wastewater utilities.
A city official from a Southwest
community stressed " that the virus
doesn't slow down our work; we're
still getting projects done. But the one
thing that stops us dead in our tracks
is lack of funding. "
Yet another respondent from the
Southwest indicated a strong need for
infrastructure work to continue, one way
or another. " Right now, we're mainly just
handling projects already scheduled or
reacting to emergencies that routinely
crop up in our sewer systems. We're no
longer being proactive like we were a
year ago and that is going to cause major
problems in our systems, " she pointed out.
The key in 2021 and beyond for most
cities is to resume somewhat normal
activities where factories, retail stores and
office buildings are open and active enough

Personnel Performance Rating (per municipalities)
3.81

2017

3.9

2018

3.7

2019
Contractors

3.8

3.8
3.47

2020

2021

2017

3.73

2018

3.9

3.9

3.8

2019
2020
Consulting engineers

2021

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Underground Construction - February 2021

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