Developing a Local Government Partnership

While President Obama walks the line between reaching out to Senate Republicans and getting the hammer out to finish debate on the Economic Stimulus Bill, one part of the package really stands out for local government.

The package includes funding for an important program for Counties and Cities started in the Clinton Administration. The Program being funded is the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and it is a federal grant program funding the hiring of new police officers.

Generally, the program had helped fund police hiring and cover approximately 75 percent of the costs of new officers for the first couple of years. Local governments would pay the additional 25 percent and budget the full costs for absorbing the officers salaries, benefits and retirements down the road.
When created by the Clinton Administration, the goal was to put 100,000 new police officers on American streets. There is some argument whether this goal was achieved, but I can tell you that COPS grants for Sacramento had a huge positive affect in getting new officers and helping the city achieve better coverage and neighborhood stability.

During the administration of President George W. Bush, cities were shocked to discover the administration essentially shelve the COPS program. There have always been struggles for local government to directly access federal funding and the COPS program provided police on the street and elevated funding pressures, allowing cities to invest money needed for new officers on other programs prioritized by those cities.

The biggest shock was had been an assumption that the Republican President, a supporter of law and order, would maintain or maybe increase the program. In fact, the President felt the federal government had no business funding local government programs and a critical program ended with big impacts to city budgets.
President Obama has approved the inclusion of the COPS program into the Economic Stimulus Bill. There have been quiet complaints from Republican Senators (GOP Senators are cautious about the political impact of being on the record against funding police) on the value of COPS funding relative to job creation, but the Administration has been adamant that COPS funding creates new jobs, serving cities and creating safe streets – a fundamental infrastructure investment for economic development.



There is an interesting side note here about the President’s restriction on allowing for Congressional earmarks (allowing Congressional members to insert funding for specific district programs) in the Economic Stimulus Bill. While there are no earmarks in the bill, there are certainly a number of programs in this package Republican members of both houses have pointed out don’t have direct impact on creating jobs.

While there are no earmarks in the bill, a lot of the debate on the floor is Senators on both side of the aisle arguing about some programs being funded while then turning around to defend other programs they believe benefiting them. The more call for a change in politics as usual, the more politics as usual seems to rear its ugly head.

Optimistically, change in Washington DC is definitely a long-term project, as the President has said and seems to understand.