SEATTLE -- The stock market is still bouncing around like a yo-yo. On Wednesday, it fell. Then a day later, the Dow bounced back up 170 points.

The mayors of Washington state say the bouncing economy is making them seasick.

Mayors from sixteen medium-sized cities gathered in Seattle on Thursday with one word on their lips: help! The city leaders say the economy is hitting their city budgets, and it's only getting worse.

"We are going to close pools. We are going to cut people. We're going to close the office down on Fridays," said Bremerton Mayor Carey Bozeman. "We are going to do what we have to do because the state law says we have to balance the budget."

Bozeman called together mayors from local cities, from Mercer Island to Mount Vernon, from Bainbridge Island to Issaquah.

The bad news: don't expect any help from the state. The trouble is everywhere.

The problem is simple, even on Mercer Island. Money from property taxes won't keep pace with inflation. The total property tax can only increase one percent a year. Inflation is running at five times that.

And the cities' other source of money - the sales tax - is flat, to down. People aren't spending.

"(We) do more things at home, making bread and all kind of stuff -- all of those domestic things we were getting away from," said Dawn Falcon, a local resident who has been tightening her belt.

Ben Wicks says he, too has cut back.

"I have, I have," he said. "I've got a broken dishwasher in my kitchen I haven't replaced yet."

"We're in a recession or depression whatever you want to call it, and cities are going to have to make incredibly difficult choices about what they are going to cut," Bozeman said.

The mayors say the real hope is a program that will create jobs, and now.

They are pushing for a federal program to help rebuild everything, from roads to sewers. They will be asking the Legislature for new funding mechanisms to allow public works projects locally.

They argue the cities are the backbone of the state, and if the state wants to recover, it'll help the cities.

But the state may not listen. After all, there's a projected $3 billion hole in the state budget.