What locals want
The Sept. 11 attacks were not only the worst terrorist acts ever perpetrated against Americans. They also were a wake-up call for local governments, which, largely, had been leaving the matter of homeland security in federal hands. Sept. 11 changed everything.
Cities and counties reacted quickly, revamping budgets to reflect the new public safety concerns, redeploying their public safety personnel and undergoing sweeping reassessments of their emergency preparedness procedures. Miami took advantage of the heightened awareness of the importance of disaster planning to, somewhat disingenuously, recast a $255 million bond referendum designed to create greenspace and improve the city’s general quality of life as a referendum on “Homeland Defense/Neighborhood Improvement.” (It passed.)
Overall, however, local governments have been hard-pressed to respond financially to the Sept. 11 attacks. Cities and counties have scrambled to do their parts, from the obvious — shelling out thousands of dollars in overtime pay to public safety personnel — to the more subtle — stockpiling biohazard suits. Unfortunately for those cities and counties, Sept. 11 happened just as the national economy, which had soared along for more than a decade, tanked. The attacks exacerbated an already shaky financial picture, leaving local governments the Hobson’s Choice of cutting human services programs or underfunding their security programs.
In fact, a National League of Cities survey of 214 cities noted that cities anticipate overall revenues to decline as much as 4 percent over the next year, while, at the same time, they expect public safety spending to increase 1.5 percent. A survey conducted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors shortly after the attacks showed similar numbers.
Congress is attempting to soften the economic blow to local governments as they deal with issues of homeland security. The most popular legislation, from the local government point of view, is that proposed by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). That legislation would create a $3 billion Homeland Security Block Grant, with 70 percent of the money going directly to cities and counties with populations of more than 50,000. “The war is being fought on two fronts, and it needs to be funded on two fronts,” said Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley, co-chair of NLC’s Federal-Local Law Enforcement Task Force, in endorsing Clinton’s bill.
“Every city has different needs, and Sen. Clinton’s plan wisely gives communities broad discretion to use these funds as they see fit,” agreed New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
However, Clinton’s bill, which was co-sponsored by four Democrats, has little Republican support, and, consequently, is unlikely to become law. Three other bills, the Port and Maritime Security Act of 2001, the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Response Act of 2001, and the Water Security and Research Development Act, enjoy broader Congressional support (see page 28).
With Congress scheduled to take up those, as well as other, homeland security measures, local governments and the organizations representing them are gearing up for an unprecedented lobbying effort.
“The terrorism confronting our country may be international in its scope, but it is always local in its impact,” NLC President and Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer said at NLC’s December meeting. “When you dial 911, who do you reach? You don’t get the FBI. You don’t get FEMA or the Department of Defense or the Centers for Disease Control. You get a local government employee who dispatches local emergency personnel.”
With that in mind, American City & County asked Morial and National Association of Counties President Javier Gonzales to share their organizations’ wish lists with us.
