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Conclusions <br />The City is in the midst of a major financial crisis in its General Government operations. The next two <br />years will be critical to determining whether City leaders will act to stave off massive public service cuts <br />and move to implement longer -term solutions to stabilize City General Government revenues and <br />expenditures —or if we lack the political will to act, and as a result spiral into a major economic decline <br />in Everett. The problem has been developing over many years, but has been made much worse in 2020 <br />with COVID-19 and the departure of the Boeing 787 line. The choices on the table are not easy to <br />implement nor are they universally popular. <br />It will take shared sacrifice by the public and City Hall alike, and a broad array of solutions over time to <br />stabilize the City's funding for services and programs that are essential to our quality of life. <br />It is imperative that the City respond to this crisis in a balanced way. The answer is not all in finding new <br />revenue, nor is it all in implementing further cuts. A mix of both and more is needed. Our <br />recommendations are based on the belief that a broad array of steps must be taken, with both short- <br />term, mid-term and long-term implementation paths This is not a "one -and -done" situation. The work <br />will be ongoing for years. Dramatic change is required and much of it may be painful. That pain must be <br />shared by all who are part of this community, both inside and out of City Hall. <br />We hope our report will help lend support to City leaders agreeing to take bold steps in building a path <br />forward. Because the situation is so dire, we believe agreement on a set of actions must come soon, in <br />our view — no later than mid-2021. We would be glad to reconvene in 2021 to hear more from the City <br />about how it plans to proceed. <br />In closing, we thank the Mayor for convening this Committee to learn about the City s financial <br />challenges, and to the Council for their support of our work. Finally we extend our deepest <br />appreciation and thanks to the City staff who supported our work: they were transparent and thoughtful <br />in their presentations and took pains to answer all of our questions along the way The City is very <br />fortunate to have such impressive public servants working on our collective behalf. <br />21 <br />