Reported are 1973 conference proceedings of the National Association of Coordinators of State Programs for the Mentally Retarded (MR), which address the economics of service delivery to mentally handicapped children and adults. Conference speakers included a state legislator, a state budget official, an economist, and state and local officials. They discussed a legislator's and a state official's views of the impact of new budgeting techniques on the delivery of MR services; measurement of costs and benefits of MR services; program budgeting in a multiservice center for the handicapped; cost accounting within a public residential facility for the MR, and assessment of costs and benefits of alternative services for the MR speakers. Reactions to the presentations stressed the need for better information on which to base program decisions and the importance of relating data systems and cost accounting to improved client service. (LH)