LOCAL CONTROL AND IMPROVEMENT OF COMMUNITY SERVICE

Outside of Washington, too, there have been developments prom-
ising significant advances in the arts of government.

I think particularly of the establishment of more than fifty councils
of local government to sponsor area-wide planning and action on
problems that cannot be handled efficiently by individual political
jurisdictions.

Also significant is an emerging new interest of state legislatures
and state executive offices in the needs and problems of local govern-
ments. Governors are assuming a new leadership in this field.

Much remains to be done.

Some of the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on
Intergovernmental Relations, if adopted, would greatly improve the
quality of local and regional government and would step up the
effectiveness of councils of local governments. Let me mention a few
that in my judgment deserve your strong support.

1. Establishment of a unit of state government to give constant
attention to local community problems.

2. State legislation to provide technical and financial assistance to
local governments desiring to establish joint enterprises or to
merge functions.

3. Interstate compacts to give legal status to councils of local
governments in multistate regions.

4. General state legislation giving blanket approval to local gov-
ernments to contract with one another for performance of
urban services.

5. State legislation providing simple procedures for consolidation,
merger, or dissolution of special districts and permitting an
appropriate unit of general government to assume responsi-
bility for the function of a special district.

6. Adjustment of state tax policies to lessen interlocal fiscal
disparities.

7. State legislation to provide steeper equalization in distribution
of state school aid.

The task of reshaping our machinery of government to meet the
demands of today and tomorrow may seem formidable indeed, but
it is well within our capability. We have always lived in the midst of
change.

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