Federal-Local Relations and the Mission of the City

Abstract

The administration's emphasis on New Federal ism requires those concerned with governing to reexamine the complex intergovernmental system, and particularly the role of the city in that system. Traditionally, municipal government has been the level of government closest to the people and responsible for answering their needs. With the advent of World War II, however, the traditional roles reversed themselves to the point where, in 1944, federal government accounted for 89 percent of total government expenditures, whereas local governments expended only 6.4 percent of that total. The modern inclination to create "paragovernments" for special purposes has compounded the imbalance of the intergovernmental system. The current dilemma is to find a suitable split for governmental services, supported by a more equitable financial split. In resolving this dilemma, cities must be accepted as an integral part of the federal system. Local governments should have a clear voice in decisions in such policy areas as growth management, taxation, transfer payments and quality of life enhancement. The resources of cities should be conserved and fully utilized, and the mission of the city to create "a visible regional and civic structure, designed to make man feel at home with his deeper self and his larger world," should be implemented.