NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES 375

to achieve economy through the elimination of obsolete or duplicated
services; to improve efficiency through reorganization of the executive
branch; to develop criteria and measures upon which we can judge
administrative performance and operational efficiency — now and in
the future. This assessment of organization and objectives at the State
level is equally significant for county governments, since both require
discipline to resist complacency and a prod to progress,

The new professionalism, with all its dynamics and discipline, must
be financed like everything else and it is in this area that the greatest
strides must yet be made. The traditional revenue resource, the prop-
erty tax, can be pushed only so far before it becomes insufficient and
even self-defeating. Alternative broad based revenue resources must
be made available, and here the state as well as the county has a clear
obligation.

In Maryland — because I was acutely aware of this critical need —
I sponsored fiscal reform legislation authorizing counties to levy a
local option income tax up to 50% of the State income tax rate. This
so-called piggy back principle permits counties the flexibility to de-
velop and expand services in direct response to local needs. In addi-
tion, almost ninety percent of the new State tax increase has been re-
distributed to the counties to subsidize operating expenses in areas of
health, education, welfare and public safety. State aid is limited to
areas where the State has a measure of functional responsibility and
allocated by a formula that assures minimum criteria in services and
encourages maximum quality standards.

Yet dollars alone are meaningless. New dimensions in planning
must accompany the new professionalism. Planning is the key not only
to develop services but to guide the growth and character of the county.
Regionalism and regional planning must evolve as the most efficient
political means to cope with water and air pollution, traffic and mass
transportation — all those problems which neither know nor respect
political boundaries. Cooperation and coordination between all levels
of government are essential in the interest of efficiency, economy and
progress.

This in turn will free the county government to focus upon those
problems which it is best and most capable of resolving through the
development of community-oriented programs. Education, recreation,
health and mental hygiene, employment opportunities and public
safety require increased community emphasis and demand increased
attention from local government. Founded upon solid financing,