By Larry Jones
November 9, 2009

When the nation’s mayors team up with county leaders, particularly those from large urban counties, they can wield a lot of influence over federal legislation that affects local communities. No one understands this better than the leaders of The U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Counties (NACo) who can cite a number of legislative victories that have resulted from such team work including general revenue sharing, the unfunded mandates act, and more recently, the energy efficiency block grant.

With Congress expected to consider several critical pieces of legislation in the coming year, NACo’s Large Urban County Caucus (LUCC) invited Des Moines Mayor T.M. Franklin Cownie and Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran to a meeting in Fort Lauderdale to discuss how the two organizations can work together to better influence legislation on behalf of local communities.

During the discussion on October 29, Cownie, Chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Metro Economies Committee, told county delegates from more than 60 counties that cities and counties in metro areas account for 90 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). And while most people live and work in metro areas, the current funding formulas for most federal programs do not provide direct assistance to cities and counties in those metro areas.

Cownie pointed out for example that Iowa has 99 counties and 948 cities and towns. There are ten metro areas that drive the state’s economy. And while the state received $358 million in stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Des Moines and Polk County (the states largest city and county) received less than two percent of the funds directly.

He also explained that the state is using $150 million of its stimulus funds to improve and widen state highways at a time when funds could be much better invested in a mass transit system, which would better serve the people of Iowa. Cownie urged LUCC members to work with mayors to ensure direct funding to cities and counties in metro areas as the two organizations collaborate on legislation.

Cochran told LUCC members, “The time is right for our two organizations to get something done.” Citing numerous examples from a recent report that shows how metro economies are the engines driving the nation’s economy, Cochran said mayors and LUCC officials should be embolden by this economic power and “figure out how we can translate it into political power to benefit people residing in metro areas.”

Cochran urged LUCC members to consider working with mayors on the reauthorization of the transportation bill. He said the Conference would like to see more of the funds allocated for mass transit, and reforms in the metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) so they will work better for local governments.

NACo President Valerie Brown, Supervisor in Sonoma County (CA), reminded county delegates that health care reform is one of the organization’s top priorities since many counties run hospitals as well as health departments, and are responsible for indigent patients in need of health care services. She encouraged members of LUCC to send letters to their congressional delegation to urge support for health care reform.

She also mentioned climate protection as one of the issues she is interested in. She said her county adopted a resolution that calls for reducing greenhouse gases by 25 percent by 2015. Supervisor Brown reported that she would be representing NACo at a global conference on climate change scheduled for December in Copenhagen, Denmark.

NACo First Vice President Glen Whitley, County Judge in Tarrant County (TX), said his passion has long been transportation and that traffic is a major problem in his county. By the year 2030, the county needs to invest approximately $487 billion in the current transportation system just to keep traffic from getting any worse. The county is on target to raise $155 billion in revenues, which means it will face a $332 billion shortfall. He said the county is considering a regional rail plan that a survey showed was favored by 75 percent of people. However, the business community has been successful in defeating all attempts to pass legislation by painting it as an unnecessary tax increase.

Hearing key issues raised by the NACo leadership, such as climate change and more support for rails or mass transit, Cochran said he is encouraged that both organizations will be able to identify legislative issues that will energize mayors and LUCC members to work together to win passage of appropriate legislation. To get things moving, Cochran recommended and NACo LUCC Chair Ilene Lieberman, Commissioner in Broward County (FL) agreed that both the Conference and LUCC should appoint six members who could get together to brainstorm issues based on each organization’s current policy and bring back recommendations for both organizations to consider.