With the Democrats “back in the saddle” in the U.S. Senate, DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow said he is assured that city governments will not be subject to further federal cuts.

Sparrow returned Friday from the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington D.C. where local governments, “the closest to the people,” were able to share information and look for answers with Congress.

“There is a different attitude in Congress which gives us more flexibility. Cities are not going to be taking the cuts like in the past. At least we’ll be able to hold our own,” Sparrow said.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is responsible for incurring the drastic cuts—in such areas as federal revenue sharing—that have hit state and city governments hard in Reagan’s past budgets.

“I wanted some assurance that those cuts, which sometimes meant the complete elimination of programs for some cities, would not materialize,” Sparrow said.

Sparrow’s feeling of assurance came from the increased Democratic influence in Washington, including Congressman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and the new speaker of the House of Representatives Jim Wright, D-Tx., a former mayor. “They recognize there is a federal-city partnership,” Sparrow said.

Byrd and Congressman Dennis Hastert, D-Ill., expressed strong support of revenue sharing, although Hastert said it would appear in a less wasteful form.

If revenue sharing comes back, local governments would be allowed to use the money for specific categories decided by the federal government, not just the General Fund, Sparrow said.

Several grants exist or will be passed, such as the Clean Water Act, aviation grants, highway funds, and community development grants, which could aid city governments, Sparrow said. “Our task is to identify the areas in DeKalb which we can tie into these grants.”

A main form of help from federal government will come in the form of economic developers employed specifically to inform cities of what monies are available and how to obtain them, Hastert said.