Mayors from four U.S. cities said they are facing a once-in-a-generation fiscal crisis and that federal stimulus funds have, so far, been largely unhelpful in efforts to balance budgets hit by steep drops in nearly every source of municipal revenue.

Comments from mayors of Philadelphia; San Jose, CA; Mesa, AR and Bowling Green, KY, at a panel discussion sponsored by the Brookings Institution and the National League of Cities, underscore how the recession for local government is far from over.

Mesa’s mayor, Scott Smith, said steep drops in sales-tax revenue, the city’s primary source of money, are “changing our reality.”

The mayors said deep budget gaps have forced them to make cuts to basic services, including police and fire protection, and that fiscal strains emphasize the need for money-saving changes to pension and health benefits in the heavily unionized public sector.

Conor Dougherty

Washington, D.C.

*Excerpted from 11-20 The Wall Street Journal.