Revenue Sharing-Will it Really Decentralize the Federal System?

• DOI: 10.1177/027507407400800108
• Date: 01 January 1974
• Author: John Rehfuss
• Published date: 01 January 1974
• Subject Matter: Articles

65

such

an

environmental

control,

revenue

sharing

is

the

primary

source

of

federal

funding

assistance,

replacing

categorical

programs.

As

long

as

this

circumstance

prevails,

it

is

even

more

incumbent

upon

local,

regional,

state

and

federal

officials

to

consider

the

plans

that

were

to

be

implemented

by

categorical

programs.

One

method

to

overcome

the

administrative

problems

that

could

be

caused

by

a

cumbersome

review

process

would

be

to

require

the

individ-

ual local

government

to

certify

that

their

proposed

revenue

sharing

expendi-

tures

have

been

considered

in

regard

to

state, regional

and

local

plans;

and,

that

such

an

expenditure

is

made

with

no

apparent

knowledge

of

contradiction

or

conflict

with

such

areawide

plans.

Local

governments

making

such

a

certification

in

wilful

disregard

of

adopted

areawide

plans,

could

then

be

considered

ineligible

to

continue

to

receive

additional

revenue

sharing

funds.

In

addition,

as

later

categori-

cal or

special

revenue

sharing

authorizations

were

passed,

they

could

similarly

be

excluded.

Conclusion

Allowing

revenue

sharing

funds

to

be

expended

irrespective

of

regional

priorities,

programs

and

cooperation,

as

well

as

establishing

a

framework

within

which

such

expenditures

could

be

made

in

direct

contra-

vention

of

federally

approved

plans,

could

lead

to

mis-management

of

funds

and

duplicative

efforts.

Steps

should

be

taken

to

insure

that

the

same

systems

of

checks

and

balances

which

are

applied

to

categorical

pro-

grams

are

included

in

revenue

sharing

regulations.

However,

maximum

benefit

could

be

attained

from

revenue

sharing

funds

by

a

redirection

of

revenue

sharing,

in

line

with

previous

congres-

sional

and

administrative

policies

encouraging

regional

cooperative

and

management.

Revenue

Sharing-Will

it

Really

Decentralize

the

Federal

System?

JOHN

REHFUSS

Director,

Center

for

Governmental

Studies,

Northern

Illinois

University

My

theme

is

simple

- revenue

sharing

will

not,

over

time,

decen-

tralize

the

federal

system

by

increasing

the

capacity

and

responsibility

of

states

and

localities.

Instead,

it

is

most

likely

to

do

just

the

oppsite

by

extending

federal

controls

into

local

decision-making.