Foreign competition and business flight to low- wage markets — inflation and loss of revenues — a citizenry under economic siege and opposed to new taxes of any kind — diminishing budgets and lack of basic services — municipal bankruptcy and a crumbling physical infrastructure. This all-too-familiar and depressing litany reflects a paralyzing reality in the United States.

After two decades of inflationary pressures, increasing national debt, and declining markets for U.S. goods and services, the reasons for America's economic decline are becoming numbingly clear. Laying the blame for the nation's predicament on illy-educated high school graduates or self-serving political leaders seeking votes for the next election does not begin to tell the whole story. It merely suggests that far more serious problems remain to be solved.

Among these challenges, voter apathy and mistrust of their elected and appointed officials have played a critical role in shaping the assumptions that guide the administration of America's cities and small towns. In light of the evidence, the recent news that one of every four cities and towns in the United States face serious municipal cash-flow short-falls is not too surprising.

Anywhere you look today, signs of economic distress are most evident in the lack of maintenance and prevention of the nation's infrastructure of roads, water systems, sewers and buildings. A decade of increasing national deficits and decreasing federal revenue-sharing with cities and states has led to serious financial difficulties for local governments attempting to keep their cities intact. Most such attempts to find revenues have met stiff resistance from taxpayers, state capitols and the federal government. As a result, bridges collapse, sewers crumble and buildings slowly deteriorate.

A widespread tendency by many municipal officials to generate short-term political and financial gains has come at a cost of far-sighted planning. As a result, cities as large as New York or as small as Bridgeport, Connecticut, are having major difficulties meeting payrolls, paving streets, and providing basic services.

A shining exception to the bad news is Decatur, Illinois. This city of 100,000 in the middle of America's agribusiness and industrial heartland has positioned itself successfully for the future. Over the last 10 years, a $1.5 billion combination of private and public investment in the city's roads, airport, water and waste treatment systems, public buildings and business expansion has generated an economic renaissance.

Decatur's political and business leaders decided in the early '80s to create and implement a solution to chronic economic difficulties. The results of their efforts did not happen by accident. "The entire leadership of the community," says Mayor Gary Anderson, "dedicated considerable financial and time resources to the rebuilding of the city and its economy. By working as a team, we pooled our resources and developed a plan of action to cut through the red tape, acquire the funding and get the job done."

A long term commitment in Decatur by major industries, such as A.E. Staley and Archer Daniels Midland, created a total investment of hundreds of millions of dollars. Recent acquisitions of other major companies have further increased local investments and industrial production capacity.

Governmental units, including Decatur city gov-

August 1991 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 13

ernment, have invested additional hundreds of millions in modernizing and increasing the capacity of various infrastructure components. These include waste water facilities ($140 million), a water treatment plant ($40 million), the Staley Viaduct ($30 million). Richland Community College ($20 million), a joint law enforcement facility ($15 million), air quality improvements ($4 million), a municipal service center ($4 million), and a public transit maintenance facility ($1 million). Many additional millions have been invested in local street and highway projects, water and sewer distribution lines and major surface drainage projects. Although major challenges remain in rehabilitating inner-city neighborhoods and creating additional long-term water supplies, active plans and solid financial commitments are well underway.

Mayor Anderson is confident of the future. "Decatur is positioned to accommodate business and residential growth for the next several decades with a low cost business climate without any significant increase in taxes necessary to support it." •

Page 14 / Illinois Municipal Review / August 1991