Now the governor said yesterday if the propositions fail, he'll have to consider taking money from California cities' property tax to balance the budget.
California cities cannot afford to bail out the state when they are already adopting extremely painful cuts to balance their own budgets. This shotgun "loan" of city property tax revenues would force additional service cuts including police and firefighter layoffs and result in longer emergency response times and fire station closures.
Here is a small snapshot of what some of California's cities are facing:
· Los Angeles is facing a $529 million budget deficit and Mayor Villaraigosa has urged the city council to declare a fiscal emergency to give him authority to layoff and furlough thousands of city employees;
· Rohnert Park may have to lay off 31 employees, including 17 sworn police officers and nine public safety technicians - and would still not be able to balance its budget;
· Stockton, to address a $31 million budget deficit, sent layoff notices to 55 police officers, 35 civilian employees and demoted seven officers; and
· Vallejo, facing bankruptcy, may be forced to decimate city services by 20 percent and staff are recommending that the city council cut 30 sworn officer positions as well as close two fire stations;
"It's absolutely unthinkable that the state would consider sacrificing local public safety at a time like this. City officials are already making painful cuts locally, laying off employees, cutting services and much more, to make our budgets balance. Taking local funds used for public safety to bail out the state budget is the last thing the public wants to see," said League President and Rolling Hills Estates Mayor Judy Mitchell.
"It's painful. We're going well below our ability to provide essential services. We have nothing left to cut," said Vallejo city Council Member Stephanie Gomes.
Reflecting the impact that the stagnating economy has had on city budgets, cities across the state are passing resolutions declaring a state of severe fiscal hardship. To date, close to 100 cities have either passed or are scheduled to pass a resolution.
California's news leaders understand why it's fundamentally wrong for the state to raid local revenues. Writing in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times on May 14, D.J. Waldie, a contributing editor, expressed it poignantly stating: "The quality of life in California's neighborhoods will be part of the wreckage. Closed libraries mean kids won't have a place to go after school. Unsupervised parks means they won't have a safe place to play. Furloughed workers won't be available to process your business license, check your building plans or deal with your complaint. Everyday life - the level at which local government works -- will be harder and coarser."
During the meeting the Governor held with city officials earlier this week, he told the assembled city officials that he will be under extraordinary pressure to "borrow" local government funds if the ballot measures fail and the budget deficit reaches $21.3 billion. The League and the city officials present told the Governor that they strongly opposed any borrowing on top of the $900 million cities already provide the state each year in city property taxes.
