How has the COVID Crisis Impacted Local Governments’ Sustainability Efforts? An Examination of Initial Effects

• Author: Rachel M. Krause,Christopher V. Hawkins,Angela Y. S. Park
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0160323X221124896
• Published date: 01 March 2023
• Date: 01 March 2023
• Subject Matter: Original Research General Interest Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0160323X221124896

State and Local Government Review

2023, Vol. 55(1) 27 –40

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/0160323X221124896

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Original Research General Interest Article

Introduction

The global COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted

society in a manner not experienced in genera-

tions and required communities to adapt to meet

new sets of needs. Situated on the front lines of

the crisis, local governments have felt a particu-

lar impact. Simultaneous to the challenges

caused by employees abruptly shifting to remote

work, local governments were tasked with

addressing multiple new demands, often includ-

ing the design and implementation of new

COVID-specific policies, the restructuring of

operations for many standard programs and ser-

vices, and the building of new e-government

platforms. Municipalities also faced an initial

steep decline in their quarterly sales tax revenue,

followed by considerable revenue uncertainty

persisting throughout 2020 (McDonald and

1124896SLGXXX10.1177/0160323X221124896State and Local Government ReviewKrause et al.

research-article2022

1School of Public Affairs and Administration, University of

Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

2School of Public Administration, University of Central

Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

3Department of Political Science, Kansas State University,

Manhattan, KS, USA

Corresponding Author:

Rachel M. Krause, School of Public Affairs and

Administration, University of Kansas, 4060 Wescoe Hall,

1445 Jayhawk Boulevard Lawrence, KS 66045, USA.

Email: rmkrause@ku.edu

How has the COVID Crisis

Impacted Local Governments’

Sustainability Efforts? An

Examination of Initial Effects

Rachel M. Krause1, Christopher V. Hawkins2,

and Angela Y. S. Park3

Abstract

Although many U.S. municipalities have adopted climate protection and sustainability as explicit

objectives, they are not among their traditional responsibilities. As a result, compared to

policies focused around core functions, those related to sustainability may be at greater risk of

retrenchment or change in times of crisis. This research examines how the COVID-19 pandemic

has impacted local governments’ sustainability efforts. Using data from a nation-wide survey, we

examine the degree to which the pandemic has affected programmatic priorities, resources, and

operations related to sustainability. Findings indicate that the pandemic hurt the implementation

of sustainability initiatives in almost half of U.S. cities. At the same time, many cities increased the

priority of economic and social sustainability initiatives in response to the pandemic. Cities which

have formally included sustainability principles into a city plan appear more sensitive to COVID-

induced challenges to their program operations.

Keywords

local sustainability, COVID-19, implementation, disruption, programmatic priorities