A federal government retreat from funding health, welfare, transportation and other social service programs could strain cities and states to the breaking point, the nation's mayors and county officials said at a strategy meeting here.
The size and complexity of the problem brought together for the first time three national organizations for a two-day meeting ended here Tuesday. Leaders of the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities and The U.S. Conference of Mayors are seeking a meeting with President Clinton and congressional leaders to discuss their worries."We feel we've been shut out of a lot of discussion in Washington," said Doug Bovin, president of the National Association of Counties.
Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini helped organize the conference in an effort to get Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt to take a serious look at the regulations the state imposes on local governments. She said she is pleased with the results.
"I'm happy. We came away with some real substantive issues," Cor-radini said.
States' roles in a government pullback are still uncertain, but some cities - including Seattle, Buffalo, Cleveland and Chicago - already contend they will lose tens of millions of dollars.
Buffalo, for example, expects to lose $50 million a year in federal funding under legislation that moved through Congress in September, when the city made its preliminary funding analysis.
The three groups say they support a balanced federal budget but are opposed to general tax cuts - which likely would force lawmakers to look elsewhere for money.
Officials bridled at the thought of getting less financial help but more responsibility for social programs.
"We feel it is fundamentally unjust to ask local taxpayers" to pick up the slack when the federal government pulls back, Bovin said.
Unfunded mandates - where the federal or state government requires some action by local governments but won't pay for it - also came under attack.
Local officials want a re-examination of existing mandates, more flexibility in dealing with them and "a strong test of worthiness" for any future requirements.
"We want no disguised mandates coming to us," said Alice Schlenker, mayor of Lake Oswego, Ore., and president of the League of Oregon Cities.
For example, she said, a new Oregon law that requires a jail term for everyone convicted of a felony who is at least 15 years old seems on the surface to be anti-crime legislation. But it also further strains jail space, she said.
"So that's an added cost to us" to build more jails, said Schlenker.
As more responsibility is shifted to cities and counties, local officials say they want a new partnership with the federal government for such programs as community block grants, Medicaid and job training. And they want to preserve the federal low income housing tax credit and the earned income tax credit.
But the biggest worry, meeting participants said, are proposed cuts in Medicaid and welfare.