Grosse Pointe News - Local History Archives

Cities, states
fight to meet
public's needs
From New York City to the Grosse
Pointes, from Maine to Michigan,
the nation's cities and states are
seekmg ways to finance social services as
well as cultural and other public programs
threatened by scarce tax dollars.
Michigan's fiscal crisis is unparalleled
m the years since the Great Depression.
Almost everyone admits the state government
has to tighten its belt but few approve
of the economies proposed by Gov.
John Engler for the state of Michigan.
Detroit, like other aging metropolitan
centers, is facing a rough summer with
cutbacks in services, including those
provided by its police department, at a
tIme of heavy unemployment and hIgh
major crime rates.
In fact, the state appears to be bashing
Detroit again by axing aid to its cultural
programs and cutting back welfare and
other programs that benefit Detroit's poor
and unfortunate.
GOP state Sen. Vern Ehlers, Grand
Rapids, in effect confirmed the bashing
when he said while "there is no intention
to decimate Detroit or the symphony or
the DIA, the outstate perspective is that
they've had it pretty soft for a number of
years," adding that "Detroit has been getting
special treatment."
Yet the senator, like the governor, forgets
that the state assumed the major
support for Detroit's cultural jewels after
the city had lost its ability to do so. GOP
Gov. William Milliken, who backed state
aid to Detroit, argued that Detroit's cultural
jewels were state assets and thus
state responsibilities.
However, recent news headlines in the
Detroit dailies show that the cutbacks,
real and proposed, have bashed more
than Detroit: "Engler plans deeper cuts
for arts in '92," "Engler would shift
health care costs," "State cuts create water
crisis for welfare recipients," "Prepaid
welfare rent to end soon" and "Board
ends welfare for 95,000."
But there is little or no agreement in
Lansing or elsewhere on ways to avoid
such cuts. A mfijority of respondents to
• •
pinion
one public opinion poll did favor a small
tax increase and seme reductions in services
as an alternative to Engler's budgetbalancing
efforts that rested chiefly on
proposed cutbacks in services.
But instead of offering an alternative to
the governor's program, the Democrats
are claiming credit for the 1992 tax assessment
freeze and avoiding tax hike
plans as if they were the plague.
One of the latest of many political disputes
between the parties to head toward
the courts arises from the governor's action
in using the little known State Administrative
Board, which he and his
GOP colleagues control, to end state benefits
for 95,000 able-bodied recipients of
General Assistance allotments.
Democratic House Speaker Lewis Dadak
challenged the action in court on the
grounds it was a "blatant and unprecedented"
attempt "to usurp legislative authority."
The governor said the board action will
enable the state to shift funds to continue
aid to about 20,000 families and disabled
GA recipients; restore earlier cuts in state
subsidies for famdies with foster children
and for adoptive parents of special.needs
children, and avoid deeper cuts in Aid to
Families with Dependent Children and
Medicaid.
Much of the current trouble began in
the early 19808 when the federal govern.
ment began to trim its support for the cities
and states. Since then, the states
have declined in economic health and the
cities have further deteriorated so that
they've had to cut back on what once was
regarded as essential service.
Detroit, which already has cut its ser-
Vices and personnel sharply, is still faced
with declining federal and state aid, a
shrinking tax base and a oontinuing
heavy burden of social programs.
Yet Detroit now employs only 200 employees
per 10,000 population ana spends
$748 in per capita city funds to pay city
expenses. In contrast, the average per
capita spending for city expenses in the
average American city of more than
300,000 was $972.
But where can Detroit cut further without
opening the door to additional crime
and population loss? With new cutbacks
in the hours of the state highway patrol
and in social service programs, the state
now faces the same fundamental question.
It's obvious the expected economic
revival can't come too soon.
Grosse Pointe News
Vol. 52~No. 20~May 16, 1991, Page 6A
Roben G. Edgar
Pubhsher
Roben B. Edgar
Founder and Pubhsher
(1940-1979)
I'IIIliisb