Oh, and cities have a budget crisis too, affecting you more than you think

So I've written about budget problems at the federal and state governments. But are cities suffering? Of course! As an article on the front of today's Arizona Republic pointed out, cities are suffering from the same economic slowdown, especially from declining sales tax revenues as fewer of us are making big purchases lately. So what's the effect this could have on us? Potholes not getting fixed? Libraries closing earlier? Well, cities do provide some important services, including the roads that are barely keeping up with growth, aging sewer systems that badly need upgrading, removal of graffiti, and even funding for domestic violence shelters. Arizona's cities may further be hit by state budget cuts, because our cities get some of their revenue from the state's income tax, which gets shared with city governments in exchange for cities not adding their own taxes to our income (filling out two income tax forms every April is enough!). In the past, when times got tough, the state has reduced revenue sharing for cities. Meanwhile, the Bush Administration has proposed eliminating or reducing several important block grants to cities. One, the Community Development Block Grant, is used in the City of Phoenix to shelter domestic violence victims, enforce anti-blight laws against slum lords, provide job training to help people be self sufficient as they leave public housing, and install new sewer lines. This money also funds something very important in my central city neighborhood: graffiti removal. Last year, Graffiti Busters removed graffiti from over 34,000 sites in Phoenix, and distributed thousands of gallons of free paint to volunteers to remove graffiti. So how much money does the federal government provide cities for uses like this? Well, the annual cost, which President Bush considers too high, is about what we spend in Iraq every two weeks. Moreover, the way the federal government distributes aid to cities favors older cities like Detroit rather than fast growing cities like Phoenix, Mesa, or Tucson. Check out these graphs from the City of Phoenix Congressional Briefing Book:

So I ask our Congressional delegation, even if you aren't fans of lots of government spending, can't you at least make sure Arizona gets its fair share of the tax dollars we send to Washington back here in our own communities?