Infrastructure drops on mayors’ priority list, according to survey
According to annual survey data from the National League of Cities (NLC) and mayoral speeches, infrastructure is a lower priority than in previous years. With infrastructure accounting for 12% of all mayoral speeches as indicated by NLC analysis, discussion surrounding infrastructure goals and objectives have been typically higher thanks in part to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA); however, if that law was the primary factor spurring infrastructure priorities, it does not bode well for the infrastructure needs that go unaddressed due to loss of funding from the IIJA. With water-related infrastructure especially important to many mayors and there being lots of community discussion about roads and traffic, the importance of infrastructure should point to it being a higher priority than the data suggests.
Addressing the potential reason why infrastructure dropped in mayors’ priority list, NLC Director of research and data Dr. Farhad Omeyr stated, “This suggests one of two things: Cities are doing much better when it comes to implementing their infrastructure plans, which I don’t see as likely, or these other issues are coming to the top because of changes in the country like tariffs and bond issues.”
