Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 12, 1993                   TAG: 9308120268
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LOCALITIES PROTEST MANDATES

Mandates.

They're rules and regulations that are imposed on the city and other localities by the federal and state governments.

They cover a wide range of topics, from the quality of drinking water to air pollution control.

But there is one catch.

The federal and state governments don't always provide the money to pay the cost of complying with the rules.

In many cases, localities have to come up with the funds.

Local governments point to the mandates as one of the causes for their financial problems.

There is a growing unrest over the issue among cities, counties and towns across the country.

Roanoke Mayor David Bowers has been appointed to a 30-member task force by the U.S. Conference of Mayors that will examine and challenge Congress's practice of imposing, but not funding, mandates on localities.

Roanoke County officials are upset, too, saying the state needs to stop telling localities what to do if the state isn't going to pay for it.

"They want us to pay for things that someone else dreams up," said Fuzzy Minnix, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors.

"The state told us a few years ago to give an 8 percent pay raise for teachers, but they didn't provide the money for it," he said.

Now, the state has taken lottery proceeds and refused to share them with localities, Minnix said.

Minnix said the Virginia Association of Counties has lobbied for an end to mandates without funds.

The local costs of satisfying these mandates - under legislation such as the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and Fair Labor Standards Act - have grown to be a significant part of local budgets, said Jerry Abramson, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

"We are not opposed to the laws under which these mandates are carried out," said Abramson, mayor of Louisville, Ky. "But when the worthy intentions of Congress and the president reach the federal bureaucracy, they are translated into a nightmare for city halls."

Idaho Sen. Dirk Kempthorne, a Republican and former mayor of Boise, has introduced a bill that would require that mandates imposed by the federal government be accompanied by funding to cover the costs. Other members of Congress have introduced legislation addressing various aspects of the issue.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is chairman of the mayors' task force, which will survey all cities with populations of more than 30,000 to determine the cost of mandates.

Release of the survey findings will coincide with a national "unfunded mandates day" this fall. Hundreds of mayors will stage events and hold news conferences that day to call attention to the issue.

Roanoke City Council members are among those upset.

Bowers has asked City Attorney Wilburn Dibling for a legal opinion on how the city can force the General Assembly to provide the money.

Bowers said the city might also begin informing residents of the cost for the unfunded mandates.

On water bills, for example, the percentage required to fund mandates could be listed, he said.

Councilman James Harvey said the state legislature must understand that it can't continue to burden localities with more costly requirements without funding them.