. 16. Re 'er now for the Annual Conference. Re tration form, VoL 22, No. 9 ~ April 30, 1990 W D.C. Publicadon the National Association Counties accounting i iM e ~ o. g MUD to drop targeted funds on activities benefitting low- the population that could benefit tained none of the CDBG propos- By Haron Battle and moderate-income persons. from CDBG activities. als. Congress recognized that they In this issue's "Spotlight- associate legislative director Grantees are now required to spend Last fall, the department in- went beyond reform and involved Vice column, Second only 60 percent of their grants on cluded proportionate accounting substantive changes in the pro- Braaten diis- Kaye The U.S. Department of Hous- these activities. and other CDBG targeting changes gram. NACo maintained, through- the importance ofcounty Development with the 80 percent among its proposals which ad- out the debate, that proportionate in the media and how ing and Urban Coupled proportionate proportinate accounting dressed fraud and abuse in other accounting, in particular, would Co can help. (HUD) will drop proposal, programs. The HUD reform severely restrict local flexibility See page 2 accounting as one ofits recommen- would have restricted local flexibil- HUD dations forrevising the Community ity even more by severely limiting legislation that was enacted con- See CDBG, page 3 So how hot will Miami in Development Block Grant reafly be? Find out in the (CDBG) program, followinginten- Conference Update. sive lobbying by NACo and other Ravenscraft hits lopsided Sec page 4 public interest groups. Anna Kondratus, HUD assistant Special Report on anti-drug abuse act funding secretary for community develop- Media Relations ment, announced, April 18, that HUD would pull the controversial By Donald Murray Communications consultant measure from its list of recommen- associate legislative director Sheehan shares some "for the time to help public ofli- dations to Congress information from 17 communicate el?actively in being." However, the department Citing at the Bureau and television inten iews. will propose that grantees must states'eports on file Mark See page 6 spend 80 percent of their CDBG of Justice Assistance (BJA), Ravenscraft, Summit County, Hurricane Hugo teaches Ohio councilman and vice-chair of County, N,C. a New data NACo's Justice and Public Safety lesson in press rela- Steering Committee, testified that during a disaster. funding for police activities domi- See page y base nated the 21 purpose areas enumw- ated in the justice block grant pro- The writers of Fortune grams ofthe Anti-DrugAbuse Act fourteen on line- present of 1988. more easily deal with r to NACo has compiled a data base Ravenscraft, who appeared (firi(aatA& press. with information on more than 600 April 24 before a U.S. House Sec page y covering a noted interlocal agreements Oversight Subcommittee, Mark Ilavenscrafc (r), Summit County, Ohio councilmember wide range of service areas in con- for multi-jurisdic- A public information office thatdictionallfunding testijied last week before rhe U.S. House Subcommiuee on with the final phase of its task forces something s county can't af- junction tional enforcement Government Information, Justice and Agriculture. Seated (I) is one-half of all not to have. interlocal agreement project. alone represented Donald Murray, NACo associate legislative director. See page 8 The project was designed to formula grant expenditures. the war on drug abuse and provide contact information to "While NACo does not question level: What comparable priority, ated in called for a more systematic ap- Gaston County, N.C.'s De- county officials who are consider- the wisdom of coordinating drug onemightask,hasbeenestablished Services proach. Hechallengedthecommit- of Social ing entering into interlocal agree- law enforcement on a multi-juris- for multi-jurisdictional court and/ the media to advan- tee to provide incentives for city- their ments. basis ... we are concerned or correctional programming?" he county cooperation and to actively The 10 categories containing that only one component of the said. See page g board encourage the participation on state the largest number of interlocal justice system —law enforcement Ravenscraft, a NACo boards of general purpose law enforcement, singled out for special member, expressed concern that a advisory Learn how to elYectively in- agreements are —has been mainte- multi-jurisdictional "serious imbalance" could be cre- See IMBALANCE,page 2 with the media by know- road construction and funding at the what most easily provokes nance, solid waste management, fire protection, park services, See page 9 EMS-911 services, tax assessment House FY91 budget boosts and collection, natural resources Tax lobbyist for the County management, growth manage- Association of priorities ment, employment and training, funds tor county Daniel J. Vyall,tells facilities. over the next five ym s which is the media can be a helpful md jail The U.S. House of Representa- $64 billion in FY91, eliminate the Information was also collected about a 25 percent cut in real terms. in the successful pas- tives is expected to adopt a budget deficit entirely over five years, and 'or in such More than half of these savings— of bond measures. interlocal agreements resolution for FY91 that closely thereby allow G-R-H to expire as hazardous waste manage- 144 billion—would be applied to See page 9 ueas as tracks the NACo policy statement scheduled in 1994. It was approved $ management, drug Committee on deficit reduction. Ninety-four bil- nent, growth on federal spending. NACo policy by the House Budget a and education, to 21-14 lion dollars would be slated for Communications during :nforcement calls for cutting defense and restor- April 19 by a split vote of can more smoothly few. domestic initiatives and $13 billion go iame a ing funding for critical domestic along party lines the help ofa few "do'sand you would like to obtain in- heart of the plan is a for related interest costs. The $94 II If priorities while reducing the defi- At the >ts database, or if much billionincrease in nondefense out- 'ormation from the cl't. "peace dividend" that is See page 10 would like a copy of any of the envisioned the lays would allow a $ 114.7 billion Iou The $ 1.2 trillion blueprint greater than by agreements, contact Jim Golden, reduces i increase in budget authority above would meet the Gramm-Rudman- president. 'I?te House plan director of research, at 202f393- HOUSE BUDGET, page 4 deficit reduction target of defense outlays by $251 billion See 6226. Hollings COffJfty Ne)S>» 1pril dtl. !Out> ''":." IMBALANCE...,... America's counties Spotlighting media relations Anti-Drug Abuse Act Kaye Braaten Formula Grant Funds Distribution commissioner Richland County, N.D. Have you ever felt Appprehens!on unwanted of lunleeded? Feel that way no more! forts We need you to te!I the Prosecution '0.5% pave county story! Last July, at 1 o sy the Annual Conference in Cincinnati, President Ann Adjudication Klinger asked me to chair ] LPYa a focus on group FY 1987 Subgrants information, technology Detention/Rehab. mak and media relations. At K2 FY 1988 Subglants so that time I realized that 1.6% pro Kay'edraatet,commissioner Eradication dus task of telling the 0.2% lng county story was too large Richland County, IVfJ. outl for one focus group, one executive director, one executive board, Treatment CD one board of directors, or even for all of them working together. 8.6'Yo shi Now, nine months later you willnotice that we have a help stra wanted ad here in County News, soliciting the help of all of you Major Drug Offenders who care about and work in county government. Much has been that done in the past to tell the county story, but much more needs to fro be done! I am convinced that, working together, we can tell the 0% 20% 40% 60% 60% 100% egy county story in a way that is understandable and exciting! tie! In this information age, it is imperative that the media and the Inv public understand government. officials county Getting more information government (i.e., state leg- justice system received only 8.6 Ravenscraft disclosed that anti to including our own a shared people, county family, is priorityof islators, county board members, percent of the total funds. NACo random survey of 17 lag NACo and the state associations. The public affairs department mayors, etc.) who possess broad "Ifwe learned one major lesson found that 10 states had no at NACo, with the much appreciated help of the state executive policy-making authority. fmm the LEAA[LawEnforcement county "general purpose dev directors, is gathering as much resource information as is Data contained in a recent report Assistance Administration] pro- meat" representative on the yea available on counties. 'Ihese materials willbe on display at the published by the BJA ("FY 1988 was the non NACo Annual Conference. The display willgive you ideas on gram, it importance of anti-drug policy board, four Report on Drug Control" clearly Col how to tell the county story in your individual county settings. ) viewing the justice system as a had only one county indicates that more than 74 percent Our focus group has had the opportunity to see some very well "system" and recognizing that any one state had two, and two done videos, educational books and an exceptional workbook of the justice block grant funds in major infusions offunds forjustice had no advisory board. The prepared by the Texas Extension Service. This display should FY88 was spent on law enforce- services must be carefully bal- revealed that many state give us all a real opportunity to learn from each other! But NACo ment (see chart). This compared to anced.