Counties: the Emerging Force

County government, the most universal form of local government, has risen to new prominence with the in creasing demand for locally delivered public services. Today the people are calling for greater responsiveness from their government. The federal government has reacted to the needs of local government by enacting general revenue sharing and block grants, A-85 Review and Integrated Grant Administra tion. These programs are techniques or tools used by the federal government to increase local autonomy in a partner ship for providing the best delivery of services to the citizen. This interaction of cities, towns, counties, states and federal government is called New Federalism. The process of placing increased responsibility on county governments dictates a continuing and expanding role for local government. Types of this expanded role would be participation in the development of the federal budget and increased general revenue sharing funds and block grants.