INSIDE WASHINGTON/Locals (mostly) praise budget

For the most part, local leaders are pleased with President Clinton’s $1.84 trillion budget. However, its failure to address programs they consider critical to cities and counties has many concerned. They cite inadequate — or non-existent — funding for programs ranging from the cleanup of industrial sites to youth summer programs and for law enforcement priorities.

“While this budget is in many respects promising, we must voice serious concern over several issues that remain inadequately addressed,” says Denver Mayor and U.S. Conference of Mayors President Wellington Webb. For example, the $92 million request by Clinton to clean up brownfields is the same amount requested last year, and many local leaders are concerned that it is not enough to expedite the cleanup process.

Local officials representing large cities also criticize the president’s proposal to keep Youth Training Formula Grants at level funding of slightly more than $1 billion. The grants help cities employ teenagers; in theory, taking teens off the streets, teaching them discipline, keeping them out of trouble. Without additional funding, some cities will have to slash their summer youth programs by 33 percent to 50 percent, Webb says. Local leaders also worry that the proposed elimination of funding for the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant will have dire consequences. The grants allow cities and counties the flexibility to use federal money to pay for enhanced training and equipment and technology upgrades.

However, Jeff Arnold, deputy legislative director for the National Association of Counties, predicts that Congressional Republicans will restore funding for the grants before the budget is signed into law. Still, he says, organizations like NACo will keep a close eye on the outcome of negotiations to protect the program.

Despite those concerns, local government representatives cite a number of high points in Clinton’s final budget. For instance, Cameron Whitman, federal policy director for the National League of Cities,says the president’s proposal to pay down the national debt by 2013 could prove advantageous to cities and counties in the future.

Whitman points out that 11 percent of the 2001 budget is dedicated to paying off the interest of the national debt. Once that debt is erased, more federal money will be freed up for local government programs.

In the short term, some budgetary requests, if approved, will help cities and counties better meet their citizens’ needs. For example, Clinton has asked for $1.3 billion for his “21st Century Policing Initiative,” half of which would be used to help put 50,000 more police officers on the nation’s streets by 2005. Under the plan, another $200 million would be dedicated to pay for the hiring of 1,000 new prosecutors in high crime areas.

Additionally, Clinton is proposing a $6 billion increase in the budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That would increase HUD’s budget to $32.1 billion — just a few years after Congressional rumblings about eliminating the department. The president also proposes a $119 million increase in the Community Development Block Grant program, bringing the total for that popular item to $4.9 billion.

Arnold suggests that local leaders begin lobbying now because, as he says, “we are dealing with a very short [legislative] year” because of the elections. He has offered all leaders, not just those who govern counties, the use of the toll-free NACo number that dials directly into the Capitol Hill switchboard. The number is (888) 534-6226.