Government IT Awaits Impending Budget Storm Under New Strain

Source: Gov Tech Published: July 29, 2020

Right now, being in local government IT means two things: The work has suddenly taken on a greater urgency, and funding for that work is in danger.

In many ways, technology has been at the center of local government’s response to the pandemic. Testing has been sped up by moving paper forms online. Help centers for critical services have been scaled up to epic proportions. E-signatures, digital services and telework tech have created a pathway for people to interact with public servants in ways that used to be possible only in a physical office space.

But, like the rest of government, IT shops rely on revenue from things like property taxes, sales taxes and parking fees in order to run. And elected officials are sounding the alarm that much of that funding has rapidly disappeared as the global pandemic has forced people indoors.

The National Association of Counties is forecasting $202 billion in budget impacts — a combination of revenue loss and increased spending — through the end of the 2021 fiscal year, while the National League of Cities is projecting $360 billion in revenue loss to municipalities in the next three years. Both report, based on surveys, that most local governments have already implemented budget cuts.

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