Urban Officials Voice More Concern Over Local Stringency Than Federal
Urban officials, struggling to emerge from the recession, are more concerned about high interest rates and local tax and spending limits than in seeking increased federal aid, according to a survey of 107 cities released yesterday.</br></br>While roughly half the cities_sur-veyed are showing strong gains from the economic recovery, nearly half said they expected to cut services in 1984 and more than a third said they expected to reduce their work force, the National League of Cities report found.</br></br>Eight out of 10 cities said they were operating under some tax limitation, and six out of 10 said that the limit applied to property taxes. At the same time, 82 percent said that high borrowing costs were their biggest problem; 77 percent said they would be willing to accept further cuts in urban aid to reduce the federal deficit, as long as other federal programs were reduced in similar proportion.</br></br>ÛÏRather than have more money from federal grants, our city officials would rather have the authority'and flexibility to do things on their own,Û said Alan Beals, the leagueÛªs exec-</br></br>But Beals added that some areas hard-hit by factory closings would take ÛÏmuch longer to feel they are on the road to recovery.Û,