Blog Post #2

There is tension between state and local government for many reasons. One of the main reasons is with authority of power. Authority is different depending on the state and how they want to disrupt power with the local government. This leads to something called the " State-Local Tug of War", meaning shifting of power between state and local government. State government has the ability to regulate finances, structure, service structure, personnel, functions and processes. Few states allow local governments to have any type of authority when it comes to those restrictions. The second main reason is regarding money. A lot of local governments depend on states for some form of income. About 40% of all funding from state governments is given to local government. With much of the income from state governments attended for social welfare, education, hospitals, public safety and many more for the state the local governments has very little power on deciding where to spend money. In many aspects state and local government remind me of a child getting allowance from their parents. While their parents give them money for them to spend it on things it is very limited on what exactly those things are. This builds tension on not having flexibility in what they can they spend their money on. This is what I believe is happening with state and local government. Is not having the flexibility to spend their money from state governments.

This tension might be healthy due to stability. Due to a relationship between state and local governments they are able to have funding for communities. Since tax payers are the ones providing that financial stability the reason for such restrictions on money allow people to know exactly where their money is intended for.