Civil Municipal Magazine - Nov 2023

13 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 11 By Marc A. Ott, Executive Director, International City/County Management Association (ICMA) One of the biggest challenges facing governments throughout the world is financing infrastructure and other critical investments. This is particularly true in the U.S., where many important projects have languished since the Great Recession of 2008. One option for governments is to turn to public- private partnerships (P3s) to underwrite the cost of infrastructure, economic development, and other projects. P3s, as described in ICMA’s Infrastructure Financing: A Guide for Local Government Managers, are contractual arrangements in which governments form partnerships with the private sector to design, finance, build, operate, and maintain infrastructure and other projects. The Projected Outlook for U.S. Infrastructure In ICMA policy white paper, “Public-Private Partnerships (P3s): What Local Government Managers Need to Know ,” Dr. Lawrence Martin of the University of Central Florida, Orlando, cites the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), which rates the current overall GPA of U.S. infrastructure as a D+. The ASCE estimates that it would cost $4 trillion or more to bring U.S. systems up to the minimally acceptable standards. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that an annual payment of $170 billion is needed to improve U.S. bridges, roads, and transit, and that an additional $400 billion is needed over the next two decades to maintain the U.S. drinking water infrastructure. The bottom line is that U.S. cities and regions are now primarily on their own, and that states and the federal government will make smaller and smaller contributions to local and regional government budgets. “State and Local Fiscal Facts: 2017 ” reports that while the fiscal conditions of state and local governments have stabilized since the 2008 recession, improvements have been uneven. During 2016, states saw moderate improvement in their fiscal condition, with general fund spending on track to grow at INTERNATIONAL CITY COUNTY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION: PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: A VIABLE FINANCING TOOL FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS OPENING LINES