IMPACT An Analysis of the General Revenue Sharing Program

• Author: Robert E. Campbell
• Published date: 01 January 1974
• Date: 01 January 1974
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/027507407400800106
• Subject Matter: Articles

more fundamental proposition, namely, the ability of state and local
governments to allocate financial resources in an effective and efficient
manner. The problem becomes one of who determines what is effective
and efficient. At one point in the debate it was to be the local electorate,
but can the &dquo;Feds&dquo; really resist the temptation? Perhaps the theories and
expositions on the second anniversary of the State and Local Fiscal Assist-
ance Act will examine this question in light of the realities of the second
year.
Finally, while the debate in Washington centers on the effectiveness
of revenue sharing expenditures made by state and local officials, it should
be noted that the program, in turn, is also being judged by the state and
local officials. Recipients of revenue sharing funds should, and will, be
gauging the response of the Office of Revenue Sharing, General Accounting
Office, and Congress. Revenue sharing, in part, is designed to restore
balance to the inter-governmental system. Any &dquo;strings&dquo; that are attached,
regardless of how subtle they might be, detract from the effort to strengthen
the state and local partners in the federal system.
IMPACT
An Analysis of the
General Revenue Sharing Program
ROBERT E. CAMPBELL
City Manager, City of Excelsior Springs, Missouri
As an official of local government who has been asked to comment
on the impact, to date, of the General Revenue Sharing Program, I must
confess I face an uneasy task. It does not seem long ago that, also in the
role of a local government official, I was churning out letters to various
Congressmen, and I believe even the President, extolling the virtues of
such a concept. My letters, no doubt, were patterned after editorials in the
Nation’s Cities and other such publications, extolling the advantages of
local priority setting, less red tape, lower local taxes, and other idealistic
ramblings to which many of us on the local scene were prone. While I do
not condemn the program as a...