Impact of Federal and State Mandates on Local Governments

"Fend-for-yourself federalism" as opposed to "new federalism" is the term now used to more precisely describe the federal government's policies that are presently impacting small local governments. It isn't that rural communities are being ignored; on the contrary, they are recognized as a vital link in carrying out national policy. A third of the nation's population lives in communities with 25,000 or less people, and 80 percent of all incorporated places have less than 2,500 residents. Collectively, the 36,000 rural governments account for about 94 percent of all the nation's local general purpose units. The success of any federal program depends on the cooperation of local governments. Most are financially strapped and many are organizationally poor. Fend-foryourself federalism, exemplified by reduced program funding and continuing mandates, is having lasting impacts on local governments (Sokolow). States are also issuing mandates and sometimes these are more restrictive than federal mandates.