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Show Page 3 Valleywide Council Active in Community by Tim Funk The Valleywide Corporation of Neighborhood Councils, sometimes known as the has been making itself known in Salt Lake community affairs over the last several months. Valleywide Council, Herb Lingwall, Valleywide Chairman, says the council is made up of members from the six Neighborhood Councils in the Model Cities area. These are Central City, CHAT, People's Free Way, Westside, Northwest and Redwood. Valleywide has adopted an offical charter and set of bylaws. Most visibly notable through the person of Tom Duggar, the Council's director and appointed spokesman, the Valleywide Council has presented proposals and expressed opinions on new citizen participation plans, local government reorganization and priorities in long range community planning. Valley wide was organized, explains Lingwall, to provide better communication between the member councils, to give them a place to discuss their mutual problems and find solutions. The Council trys to gain support from each member for efforts of the others, says the Chairman. Input is sought from each Council and the group tries to utilize the expertise which exists within the membership. "We try to get a knowledge of what is going on with each of the member councils," says Lingwall. He points out that the Valleywide structure is almost the same as the Model Cities Planning Council which also consists of two members from each of the six councils. But he says there is a difference. "Planning Council time is taken up with discussion of the immediate goals of the different individual councils," explains the Chairman. The Planning Council works directly with each other and they present their problems to the Joint Board of Commissioners for action. In the Valleywide Council the problems of each council can be related more broadly to those of the others, says Lingwall. In addition the separate councils, when working through the Planning Council, must present their problems and proposals to the Joint Board of Commissioners for final approval and action. With the Valleywide Council, the councils can act more flexibly without seeking such approval, leaving them more alternatives to choose from in policy matters. Lingwall indicates Valleywide has not been without its troubles. After getting started late in 1972, the current federal budgetary Urn i4-- Mayor Office s the sole source of income for so many cities in the country. That is why, when the general revenue sharing bill was passed, and Salt Lake City knew it was to receive roughly three million dollars a year r for a period, we went to our city departments to find out what the financial situation looked like. What did we find? We found that, figuring inflation and the rising cost of living.the City would need to spend a certain amount of money each year for the next five years to continue to provide the basic services it now provides sewer, water, police and fire protection, etc. When the expected income was calculated for that five year period, we found that without raising taxes, we would noj have enough money to continue providing those services unless we used the revenue sharing money. Even then, that "extra" three million dollars a year from general revenue sharing will only, help us solve our financial problems for the next two years. n 1976 and 1977, we will once again have to find some other source of money or face a cut in our services. So, as far as general revenue sharing is concerned, it has been "used up" five-yea- Few issues have attracted the amount of attention among citizen groups and social action agencies that Revenue Sharing has. Nor has any issue been .as widely confused and misunderstood. The reason seems to be that Revenue Sharing is thought to mean a solution to the city's problems and a chance for every worthy program to get a Even at piece of the money-pie- . best. Revenue Sharing cannot promise that much. But the confusion about Revenue Sharing centers around the fact that most people aren't aware that there are TWO types of Revenue Sharing -- General Revenue Sharing and Special Revenue Sharing, both proposed to meet two different types of needs. General Revenue Sharing was designed from the very beginning to meet the pressing financial problems of the cities of the country to provide already existing services. It was proposed more as a tax reform than as a gift of money, to allow cities to have an alternative source of tax money and not be limited to the property tax and limited sales tax, which are problems arose. The Model Cities -- d I r for the entire period simply to enable the city to continue its current level of five-yea- services. Special revenue sharing is another story. Right now, there is no such thing as a special revenue sharing program. There are only proposals. Several bills have been introduced in Congress which would authorize special revenue sharing programs if they pass. It is too early to know exactly what these bills will say after they have gone through the legislative mill. We know what they propose - we have copies of some of the bills, but there is no way of knowing what amendments the committees, the and individual members of Congress might make to the bill. We can only say with confidence that we expect some type of special revenue sharing program to be enacted. We expect that it will give money to states and s, local governments for programs within certain areas, such as Manpower, Education, Community Development and Law Enforcement. We expect that this money will be money that we might be able to spend on services we are not currently providing. And we don't expect any of the proposals to be passed before the end of this year, and noneof them even as proposed - will go into effect until July 1 of 1974, at the -- earliest. General revenue sharing, then, is here. have explained how it is being used. Special revenue sharing is a promise that we think will I come, but we can't say exactly in what form. When it does come, we intend to have citizen input into the decisions about how it is spent. More on that later. Task Forces from which Valleywide drew much of its NOW YOU CAN OWN A NEW support have been disbanded (and replaced by the Planning Council) and many people associated with them "have dropped out of the picture." Then, school closures in the Salt Lake City area drew the attention and concern of the member councils. For Only Lingwall hopes now the Valleywide Council can get back down to business. More information is available The from Lingwall at 363-0481. Neighborhood News will report any meeting dates and times in coming editions. salt lake neighborhood news The Neighborhood News Publication is a of the publication Communications Service Center, Inc., under the direction of the Joint Board of City and County Commissioners with editorial offices located at 383 East 1700 South, Salt Lake City, Utah 84115. Neighborhood of the News is made partially possible through a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Publication of the newspaper is weekly with a guaranteed distribution of 30,000 copies. No need to ever launder your clothes in public again! Now you can own your own mobile laundry for less than you'd spend at the corner coin laundry. Fast, efficient, compact and capable. Does a full size family wash in only thirty minutes. For further information, call 467-801- 4. Published by the Communications Service Center, Inc. Marlene Marie Young, Editor and Director Tim Funk, Staff Reporter Donald Young, Photographer Clark Yospe, Graphics and Children's Supplement Editor Weldon C. Matthews, Advertising Joint Board of Commissioners Jake Garn, Chairman Affiliated with the Community Services Council Distribution by delivery and mail. Free Home Demonstration by Factory Rep. Call: 322-- 1 633 for Appointment ARRLTANOES |