D’s and F’s on Deficit, Jobs : Administration, Congress Given Low Grade by Cities

The Reagan Administration and Congress were awarded poor grades Monday by city and town officials for their handling of the federal budget deficit and their attention to municipal problems.

In a survey conducted by the National League of Cities, 78% of the responding mayors and council members gave the federal government D’s and F’s for the manner in which it has coped with the rising tide of red ink in the federal budget.

Local Problems

Three-quarters of the 516 officials from 396 municipalities gave the White House and Congress the same inferior and poor performance ratings for attention to local problems such as drugs, crime and public works.

Washington got D’s and F’s from 51% of the officials in the areas of unemployment and social policy issues and mixed grades (C’s or better from 64%) for environmental protection action in 1986.

The only bright spot on the report card was for the declines in interest rates and inflation, with 70% awarding C’s and B’s and 14% giving A’s for excellence.

“If there were a woodshed behind City Hall, it appears that there would be a well-worn pathway to it awaiting most of the Administration and the congressional leadership,” Alan Beals, executive director of the league, said at a news conference.

Beals said the survey, taken at the league’s annual meeting early this month, was the first time the organization had attempted to grade Washington on its performance.

One of the casualties of efforts to control budget deficits was the end of the 14-year-old general revenue-sharing program that pumped about $4.2 billion into local government coffers in the year ending last Sept. 30.

Beals said that, largely because of this loss, 34% of the officials said they planned to raise municipal taxes in 1987 and 55% were considering increases in fees and charges for local services.

However, that was down slightly from 1986, when 37% raised taxes and 57% increased fees and charges.

More Revenue Needed

Thirty-six percent of the survey participants said it will be impossible to maintain existing levels of municipal services next year unless local revenues increase.

The survey participants had generally negative feelings about the local impact of perhaps the most far-reaching legislation of 1986, the massive reworking of the income tax code.