National.

The National League of Cities last week released its annual survey of fiscal conditions, which reports that one out of every four city governments faces a budget gap greater than 5% this year.

The survey also shows that seven out of 10 cities are less able to meet their financial needs than they were last year.

The league's president, Mayor Sidney J. Barthelemy of New Orleans, warned in a statement that as cities become saddled with more responsibilities they will become weaker financially and prone to the types of pressures that led Bridgeport, Conn., last month to seek bankruptcy protection.

"All the ingredients that combined to create a crisis in Bridgeport may not be as pervasive elsewhere, but the fuse of deteriorating fiscal conditions is getting shorter and burning hotter in cities and towns everywhere," Mayor Barthelemy said. "Strictly on the basis of current operating budgets, more than one city in four is looking at numbers that Bridgeport's mayor found intolerable."

Bridgeport's projected budget shortfall is about 5%. The survey found smaller cities were particularly vulnerable to the vagaries of the economy, with about 30% of communities with populations below 100,000 facing expenditures 5% above revenues this year.

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