CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Three of the state's top five elected officials are backing Gov. Dave Freudenthal's proposal for more money to help cities, towns and counties build roads, sewer lines and other infrastructure.

Secretary of State Joe Meyer, State Treasurer Cynthia Lummis and Superintendent of Public Instruction Trent Blankenship told the Joint Appropriations Interim Committee on Monday the need for infrastructure improvements in counties and municipalities is great.

One of the best ways to address those needs is through grants from the State Loan and Investments Board, Meyer said.

But, he added, "We need more money."

In his supplementary budget request, Freudenthal recommended adding $28 million to the State Land and Investments Office budget to fund more grants by the board. That request includes $10 million to help cities and towns impacted by coal and coal-bed methane development.

All five statewide elected officials serve on the Loan and Investment Board, which awards grants to local governments in January and June of each year.

Meyer said the board normally divides the money it can award over a biennium into fourths, one for each time the board meets.

In March, the Legislature appropriated $35 million in grant money for the 2005-06 biennium, meaning about $9 million was available for each grant meeting.

But communities' needs in June were so great that the board elected to award $18 million instead, Meyer said.

"So many requests had a direct impact on health and safety (that) we spent a year's appropriation at one meeting," he said.

Meyer said cities, towns and counties have $200 million worth of projects pending in the current biennium, which ends June 30, 2006. Of that, $88 million in infrastructure project needs remained after staff eliminated projects that did not qualify or weren't planned for the biennium.

Sen. Irene Devin, R-Laramie, said local governments and state agencies repeatedly complain about the Legislature's 2001 decision to cap the amount of money they could get from mineral taxes. She said needs built up over time - some even before the caps were set.

But Meyer said the grant program is one of the "most effective programs in rural Wyoming I've ever seen."

Meyer said mineral development has created poor towns and cities in rich counties because municipalities don't get any income from the increased property valuation.

"If we want to keep the development, we have to have people to work, houses for them to live in, and sewer and water lines to those houses," Freudenthal said Monday.

Ignoring those problems will only add to social costs and other demands for government services, the governor said.

Lummis said one way to solve the problem is to combine city and county services.

She pointed to Denver, where the city and county function as one entity.

"They enjoy the same services and revenue," she said. "If that concept has merit, the Legislature would need to spend time in the interim studying how to authorize cities and counties to engage in that kind of co-mingling."

Information from: Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, http://www.wyomingnews.com