During this year’s annual City Summit, local leaders from across the country spoke during the Financing the Future: Strategies for Local Investment session, sharing their unique challenges and solutions to paying for projects their residents urgently needed — without leaning heavily on their municipality’s general funds or traditional federal grants.
Moderator Council President Blaine Griffin from the City of Cleveland, Ohio (pop. 365,379) led the session, giving each panelist the opportunity to share how local investment involves myriad of choices, from figuring out which projects get funded first to deciding between one-time dollars versus long-term investment.
Building Federal Relationships to Support Residents
Speaking on behalf of the City of Dublin, Calif. (pop. 70,544) Council Member Jean Josey described her community as a fast-growing suburb in the Bay Area. During the pandemic, Dublin and its neighboring cities of Pleasanton and Livermore saw their residents in crisis increasingly rely on emergency rooms when they couldn’t access behavioral health care — even when they had insurance.
Responding to this, the cities created a partnership working with a local provider, Axis Community Health, to create a mental health urgent care center known as Access Bridge. To help make this project a reality, the tri-cities turned to their congressional representatives for Community Project Funding, also called “congressionally directed spending.” According to Councilmember Josey, their representatives were able to obtain $450,000 to jumpstart the clinic’s operations, providing initial operating costs and one-time funding support, giving the city time to determine a long-term funding source.
When moving forward with this type of funding source, she recommended that cities build relationships with their congressional delegation. This means inviting members and their staff into project discussions from the beginning. Additionally, cities should view collaboration with their neighbors as a possibility; it can strengthen the “ask” to have a district-wide initiative that will impact many and be specific about why it matters to the community.
To learn more about Community Project Funding, see NLC’s resource guide and worksheet.
Using Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to Rehabilitate Infrastructure in Small Cities
Panelist Mayor Jason Ashmore from the City of Sesser, Ill. (pop. 1,919) shared his own perspective of what small municipalities can accomplish with fewer staff or resources than many of their counterparts. To fund needed repairs within the city, Sesser relies on tax increment financing (TIF). Mayor Ashmore explained that when the city creates a TIF district, the property tax going to each taxing body inside the district is frozen at its current level. As property values rise over time, the additional revenue over the frozen level flows into the TIF fund.
Sesser has used TIF funds to replace the community’s water and wastewater lines, demolish more than a hundred structures that were beyond repair and offer grants to residents and developers to rehabilitate properties. In Sesser, the city has made it a point to be transparent with project outcomes by posting before and after photos of demolitions and renovations so residents can see where the money goes, while periodically educating residents on the importance of the TIF fund to maintain support.
Utilizing Environmental Impact Bonds (EIBs) for a Resilient Future
We also heard from Mary Bunting, City Manager from the City of Hampton, Va. (pop. 137,596). The municipality, sitting on the Chesapeake Bay, faces the threat of rising sea levels and a land structure that’s sinking. Having the foresight to see how a major flood could upend the community, Hampton decided to experiment with environmental impact bonds (EIBs), a fairly new form of municipal financing where repayments to investors are based on the bond’s success against the environmental outcomes.
According to Bunting, the city issued EIBs to fund three projects focused on reshaping ditches, lakes and roadways to store more stormwater, while also serving as parks and educational spaces on dry days. One of the projects included raising an often-flooded road and building alongside it a dual-use bioswale that also acts as a green space, thus turning a drainage channel into a shared walking path. It also allows an opportunity for teaching the community about local ecology.
The EIB aligns with the municipality’s commitment to measuring and disclosing results by sharing data, such as added stormwater capacity, with investors and residents. This has led to some investors who backed the city’s EIBs choosing to purchase Hampton’s general obligation bonds as well, seeing the city as a trusted issuer.
Planning for What Comes Next
As the session ended, the panelists were asked what they’re most excited to fund next and how they plan to pay for it. Among the panelists, the common thread towards the future of local investment focused on encouraging communities to align their financial tools with community values — whether that means behavioral healthcare, safe drinking water or climate resilience. The leaders on the panel emphasized that residents should be able to see and trust the investments made in their name.
Learn More
For more examples of how cities are funding their priorities, see NLC’s recently released Diversified Funding for Health & Wellbeing report.
About the Author
Understanding Technical Assistance at NLC
- Seth Eli Barlow
NLC Quarterly Webinar for Puerto Rican Communities
Understanding the Current Housing Finance Residential and Economic Outlook
- Stephanie Onuaja
NLCU: Supporting Small-Scale Housing Development
Data Centers Are Coming: Are You Prepared?
- NLC Partnerships
10 Top Highlights from NLC in 2025
- Jeremy Grossman