Washington, D.C., hosted the concerns of some State College Borough Council members at last week's National League of Cities conference in the annual effort to address community issues.

Elizabeth Goreham, Cathy Dauler and Janet Knauer all spoke to congressional staff members about how the federal government's proposed budget cuts for fiscal year 2005 could negatively affect local law enforcement and human services throughout the area.

Goreham said the Department of Justice's budget increased by 12 percent, but decreased in other areas, such as state and local law enforcement, which was reduced by $1.5 billion.

Borough manager Tom Fountaine, who went to the conference but did not participate vocally, said redirecting funds to homeland security and a lack of interest in funding continuing community improvement programs might be responsible for the budget cut proposals.

"It's a grave concern that a shift in dollars will impact our ability to provide law enforcement services," he said. He added that the local law enforcement grant program, separate from homeland security grants, is slated for elimination.

State College Police Chief Tom King said the local law enforcement block grant funded the K-9 program and offset the cost of hiring additional police. He also said its absence might affect local law enforcement.

Though homeland security provides grants for law enforcement agencies, King said it would be helpful for the federal government to allow communities to spend allocated funds with flexibility. The federal government determines if money should be spent on police overtime, equipment or hiring additional officers.

"We are fortunate to have the homeland security grant, but we don't want to only be able to do that at the expense of other programs," King said.

South Central Mountains Regional Counter-Terrorism Task Force chairman Randy Rockey said funding for homeland security equipment in Centre County reached $269,000 in 2003, up from $57,000 in 2002. He added that gas masks were provided throughout Centre County to all police departments by using homeland security funds.

Proposed budget cuts also might affect the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The CDBG funds various public works projects and human services nationally.

Lu Hoover, borough planning director, said local CDBG funding reached its peak at $1 million in 1995 and 1996, but it has steadily decreased since then.

In 2004, funding totaled $862,000, due in part to 2000 census data that demonstrated a decrease in State College's population. Hoover said the amount of money available is less of a concern than a continual decrease in CDBG funds.

"If the allocation keeps going down, it's going to affect what we're able to do here," Hoover said.

The borough is permitted to spend a limited amount of federal funding on human service organizations, such as the Centre County Women's Resource Center. If CDBG funding continues to shrink, money slated for human services will be rerouted to support the community infrastructure such as street repairs, Knauer said.

"There's a 15 percent cap for human services, and we use all of it. If we can't support the infrastructure, that's going to have to go first," she said.

Dauler said competition among an increased number of "entitlement" communities, like State College, is also responsible for the funding shortage and could affect the amount of CDBG funds allocated to the borough.

Entitlement communities have a large number of moderate- to low-income residents and are given federal grants to fund neighborhood improvement and human services.

"Proposed cuts are greater this year. With reductions, more communities are clamoring for funds," she said.

Goreham said 72 percent of State College's student population does not generate enough income tax revenue to fund community development programs, causing the borough to qualify for the federal need-based grants.