COST OF FEDERAL FUNDING BEARS WATCHING

The fact that Missouri, like all states, must bear the expense of many federally mandated programs for which there is no companion federal funding isn't newsworthy by itself. But when you add up the cost to Missouri taxpayers of those programs initiated -- but not fully funded -- by Washington, then you have headlines.

In the past four years, the Show Me State's taxpayers have had to fork over at least $1.4 billion to pay for these federal programs ranging from the Americans With Disabilities Act to the National Voter Registration Act. The amount is much higher than that, but there are so many programs spread across so many state, county and local governmental units that the oversight division of the Office of Legislative Research in the Missouri General Assembly can't get all the numbers together in one place.

The federal Clean Water Act has been the single most expensive mandated program for Missouri's municipalities. While tougher rules are being authorized for the nation's drinking water, it has been left primarily up to cities, towns and villages to find the means to pay for compliance.

Not all federal mandates, however, are mandatory. In some cases, the federal government authorizes programs that are optional. In other cases, the feds provide matching funding with the rest of the cost to be generated within the state. In many cases, state and local governments have been reluctant to turn down partial funding for important programs such as education and highways, unwilling to ignore the carrot of Uncle Sam's dollars.

There are some silver linings in these federal mandates. For example, the federal highway bill currently nearing passage in Congress promises to give Missourians a much higher return on their federal fuel-tax dollars than ever before. Of course, many of these dollars will come with strings attached in the form of matching shares and other costs.

In order for states to wean themselves from these high-dollar local costs for federal programs, they would have to take on the total burden of major programs on their own -- in which case some of these programs might not be so badly needed after all. On the other hand, the states often are merely complying with requirements created in Washington and must pay regardless of need or local implications.

Missouri taxpayers -- and those in other states as well -- need to recognize that every time they send a dollar to Jefferson City or when they pay their local taxes, a good-sized chunk is being taken to pay for federal programs. At some point, it can be surmised, the total tax burden will become so large that there isn't enough money to go around. That's why taxpayers must remain constantly vigilant about taxation and how those dollars are being spent.