The impact of Reagan budget cuts on development districts in the state of Tennessee, Appalachian region

This study was conducted to determine the effects of budget cuts brought about by the Reagan administration on Development Districts in the Appalachian region of Tennessee. The end result of these cuts in federal funding is a serious one for the Development Districts and the functions that were previously served are now in jeopardy. The research addresses how the Development Districts responded to the reduction in funding and their plans for continuing future operations.

The investigation is conducted in a case study approach by interviewing the Directors and Assistant Directors of the various Development Districts in an attempt to find out how each agency views their financial situation. The second component is a budget/staff analysis and a literature review that was utilized to collect data on previous and existing programs in the development of a framework for this research.

The major findings of the research were that the Development districts lacked a well—defined role that hindered them from carrying out their functions adequately. This was partly true because the planning activities of the Development Districts were duplicative in nature and supplanted the functions of similar agencies. Also, a lack of coordinative efforts has made the communities suffer because of less efficient services. The recipients of the Development Districts' services are also being hindered by the fact that some of their on-going functions have been eliminated. Furthermore, a major problem for the Development Districts has been their dependency upon federal funding.

This study identifies the beginning signs of the organizations' responses to decline and cutbacks. Future research should be directed towards seeing how the Development Districts solve their funding dilemma and what functions they are serving as well as conducting an analysis, as viewed by the direct benefactors of the Development Districts' services (communities and local governments), of the overall worth of the Districts.