Overview
The COVID-19 pandemic introduced countless challenges to municipal leaders. In addition to requiring renewed long-term financial planning, local officials in Kansas City, Missouri needed assistance in policy identification, expenditure tracking, and revenue projecting.
Challenges
Opaque federal requirements: In response to the pandemic, Congress authorized the use of over a trillion dollars to support recovery efforts. However, the opaque nature of eligible expenses and reporting guidelines significantly complicated the process for state & local governments to utilize relief dollars.
Uncertain recovery: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rupture the fiscal status quo, a strict & reliable timeline for recovery evades most industry professionals. The lack of reliable information regarding the timeline or strength of the expected recovery in Kansas City impedes the ability of the City to project future expenditures and revenues.
Solutions
- Identify & track both federal and local policies regarding emergency funding. By combining our expertise in federal policy with the on-the-ground expertise of our subcontractors local to the Kansas City metro, WBD proactively identified and cataloged guidance regarding eligible pandemic response expenditures.
- Implement a reporting tool used to align the City’s accounting systems to federal & state guidelines on reporting expectations. Drawing from our experience in tracking billions of dollars across the federal government, WBD developed a comprehensive tracking and dashboard tool in order to coherently integrate and explicate the City’s financial and contractual data.
- Project revenues and expenditures for the city using long-term budgetary and revenue analysis. By analyzing past recessions and the ongoing recovery in other municipalities across the country, WBD’s team helped to prepare Kansas City for the long-term impacts of the on-going recession and pandemic.