Lawmakers fear turning 144 cities into "micropolitan" areas

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

MIKE SCHNEIDER,
Associated Press
March 16, 2021
Updated: March 16, 2021 5:57 p.m.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators and congressmen is urging the federal government not to approve recommendations to remove 144 cities from the designation of metropolitan statistical areas. Reclassifying them as “micropolitan” would put key federal funding at risk, they said.

The request comes after The Associated Press reported this month that the federal government is contemplating raising the population criteria for core cities in metro areas from 50,000 residents to 100,000 residents. Doing so would reclassify more than a third of the current 392 metro areas as micropolitan statistical areas.

Officials in some of the affected cities worry that the change could have adverse implications for federal funding and economic development, since some housing, transportation and Medicare reimbursement programs are directed specifically to metropolitan statistical areas.

. . .

The letter was signed by senators John Thune and Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven of North Dakota, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Deb Fischer of Nebraska, all Republicans, along with Arizona's two Democratic senators, Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly. Also signing were Republican Reps. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota and Adrian Smith of Nebraska.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/article/Lawmakers-fear-turning-144-cities-into-16029425.php

[msongs]

1. one hears that republicans are AGAINST spending taxpayer money nt

[hedda_foil]

2. Hmmm... Maybe they've just given Biden 144 large negotiating chips with lots of red states.

Or perhaps Biden just shook a 144 city stick at Moscow Mitch with the threat of micro-sizing his Senators' not so big cities.

[brush]

4. Good thinking. Biden's people have shown themselves to be quite...

competent. Hope they're on top of what you suggest.

[hedda_foil]

5. Me too, brush. Me too.

[Marcuse]

3. All but ND refused Medicaid expansion or imposed work requirements and other restrictions.

[susanr516]

6. A metro area is a city of 50,000?

I grew up in Dallas, so 50,000 sounds really small to me. I now live in Corpus Christi, with a population of about 325,000. That's a perfect size for me. It's large enough to have (pre-Covid) lots of interesting events and activities, without the disadvantage of driving long distances in heavy traffic to enjoy them.

[krispos42]

9. In the emptier parts of the country, that city...

...would be the location for all the regional stuff: airport, state university, trauma center, medical specialists, etc. Plus associated supply chains, retail and commercial areas, etc.

[JI7]

7. Yet they want to deny any funding to the far larger cities

I'm sure it has nothing to do with those places being much more black and brown .

[krispos42]

8. So we'll give then a fresh supply of bootstraps.

I love how the beg for the welfare while denying it's welfare.

[modrepub]

10. More of This

The federal and state funding formulas undoubtedly favor funneling more resources towards these areas. Unless you're in a college town, you're probably too small to fund your infrastructure or you're relying on one plant to carry the town's tax base. Every dollar you funnel to one of these places is a dollar that is denied from someone else in a larger metropolitan area or more correctly is another tax dollar the metropolitan area must extract from its citizens to make up for the dollar the federal or state government funneled away.

In my state, the distribution of the COVID vaccine has lain this principle bare. The state diverted vaccines to its rural counties and away from the arch counties around one of its largest cites. Most of the state's economic activity and tax revenue is generated in this area so delaying has only reducing its tax base (not really much since by my observation people are starting to go back to normal).

Democrats need to correct this or they are going to get hammered when the Republicans get back in power (and they will at some point).

[bucolic_frolic]

11. How was the term 'micropolitan' never discovered for computer nerds after 2000?

I mean there was Geocities

[Ford_Prefect]

12. I think it is more complicated than red versus blue. It is certainly complex in terms of funding.

Are there provisions to accommodate key changes in funding?

Is critical funding dependent entirely on the term rather than the population numbers?

I live in a largely rural state. If the re-classification changes the funding of our nearby city which is just below the definition of the new metropolitan will that mean it won't receive funding it needs to support the demands the surrounding areas put upon it. The city was 75,500 in 2019. Including the county surrounding it made that 119,600 at the same time. The city is a hub for regional business and thus services a still larger population with regard to infrastructure demands.

Over the last 3 years we've been experiencing a large population influx due to several causes including people escaping COVID, hurricanes, forest fires in California and the high cost of West coast living. Many of the new residents have settled in areas outside the city boundaries causing urban sprawl and much higher housing costs for everyone here. It has put pressure on many smaller towns nearby as well (nearby may mean as much as an hour's driving time to the city). Throughout our area, housing and basic living costs have increased because of the new population pressures and that must have an effect on the need for additional support in the city, too.

If the term Metropolitan is the key in funding legislation then redefining those areas will indeed cause problems. You would think that part of the underlying report might deal with exactly that kind of impact. While the statistics of managing population accounting may make new terminology necessary the potential impact on regulatory functions derived form those terms would seem to be a significant and unavoidable consequence.

Does that mean the term or the regulation functions need to be changed according to need?

[hatrack]

13. Rounds, Thune, etc. are just worried that they'll become "Microsexuals" instead of "Metrosexuals"

.

[ancianita]

14. Maybe this serves up leverage for senate Repub votes on SB 1. It can also raise the risk of

their losing their seats to Democratic challengers.