No city's potholes rate any better or worse than any other city's potholes, and the Legislature needs to craft a state-to-local-government system to ensure equitable funding of cities and counties, Casper City Manager Tom Forslund said Friday.

After the Legislature changed the funding method known as "de-earmarking" - the limitation of the amount of minerals revenues automatically flowing to local governments and other entities - cities weren't able to look beyond the next budget biennium to make decisions about projects and hiring, Forslund told Natrona County's legislators.

The lack of a predictable and automatic flow of money also pitted local governments against each other, he said.

To respond to special requests from cities, towns and counties, the Legislature has tweaked the funding mechanism, further aggravating planning and politics, Forslund said

He, representatives of the Natrona County School District, and the Wyoming Library Association spoke at the Casper City Hall to the legislators at a town hall meeting organized by Sen. Kit Jennings, R-Casper.

The town hall resumes today at 9 a.m., with representatives of the Natrona County Commission, Casper College, NOWCAP, the Wyoming Contractors Association, the American Cancer Society outlining their concerns as the 12 legislators in Natrona County - four senators and eight House members -prepare for the 2008 Legislature budget session, which is scheduled to convene at 10 a.m. Monday, Feb. 11.

Forslund urged the legislators to make local government funding more predictable by setting up a base amount of funding - not a set dollar amount but a formula following the ebb and flow of mineral revenues - plus other funding based on the population of a municipality and county, he said. "Local governments should (financially) float with the state."

He also recommended the creation of a small fund with strict requirements for applications to help local governments with dire needs.

Forslund made other recommendations for the Legislature to deal with cities and towns:

- Resolve the problem of connecting utilities and other infrastructure between local governments and new schools being built. "This has been a flash point around the state."

- Work force housing remains a problem. Forslund recounted Casper's hiring of two employees who balked when they saw housing costs, he said. "They resigned before they got here."

- With environmental concerns mounting about polluted groundwater, the Legislature should support a system of large, well-run and regional landfills instead of numerous town dumps.

- Support more drug courts.

- Support "tax incremental financing." Such financing allows local governments to support the redevelopment of buildings and infrastructure by minimizing sales taxes. As those areas develop, they generate more property and sales taxes that can be directed toward more redevelopment.

The last issue can have tremendous benefits, but it will take a lot of work, Forslund said. "It's a complex subject; we'd like to have a champion to get this through."

Besides Forslund, other speakers outlined concerns and proposals:

- Greta Hinderliter of the Natrona County School District wanted to raise legislators's awareness of homeless students - 133 so far this school year who have registered with her office - who often don't have adequate clothing, shoes, shelter, transportation and other necessities that cause difficulties with attending classes.

- Gary Somerville of the school district, who urged legislators to restrict chronically truant students from receiving drivers licenses.

- Natrona County Public Library Director Bill Nelson, speaking on behalf of the Wyoming Library Association, urging the support of an endowment to equitably fund county libraries statewide.

Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@trib.com.