State budget
problems will
affect local programs and services
By Susan
Hogoboom
The Alpine Sun
ALPINE — Second district Supervisor Dianne Jacob talked at
length about the county’s current budget at an Alpine
Revitalization Committee meeting held on Friday, June 26. The
Board of Supervisors has approved a budget for the 2009-2010
fiscal year and Jacob said the budget is balanced and
structurally sound with revenues being intact.
“It (the budget) is about 400 million dollars less than
it was last year, so it’s a little short of 5 billion,” she
said.
One area in which the county has seen cuts is in its
workforce.
“We have eliminated almost 800 positions,” said Jacob,
saying that the county’s management team had expected such cuts
and was prepared. The good news is county lay-offs have been
kept to a minimum, at least for now.
Although Jacob deems public safety her number one
priority, it has been reported that the Descanso Detention
Facility is going to close. The facility is one of only eight of
the Sheriff’s Department’s jails.
On the other hand, the budget does allow an increase in
funding to the county’s Health and Human Services Agency.
San Diego County does still carry a ‘AAA’ credit
rating, meaning it can continue to borrow money to run essential
programs.
“We have the highest credit rating of any government at
any level,” Jacob proudly said, contrasting it with the state’s
A- credit rating and adding that this is one of the lowest of
any state in the nation.
The state’s rating has since been downgraded by Fitch
Ratings to a BBB as a result of the failure of legislatures to
make a budget agreement by July 1. The state has also has begun
issuing IOU’s and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared
California in a fiscal state of emergency.
The state’s financial woes are a real concern for Jacob and all
county officials.
“Over 60 percent of what we do is state,” Jacob said,
referring to funding received by the state for local programs.
“The state needs to align their expenditures and that’s going to
mean they’re going to have to make some really drastic cuts in
those state programs to do that. Those are the state programs
the county provides.”
Jacob pointed out that local revenues from property
taxes and sales taxes, which the county usually sees increase,
are not consistent with the cost of living. It is projected that
property tax revenue will be in the negative territory this
fiscal year.
In addition, the state, in a quest to repair it’s
budget problems, wants to borrow $70 million in local property
taxes under a Prop 1A suspension; under a prop 42 suspension,
$10 million in gasoline tax proceeds, which are intended for the
purpose of road maintenance and repair; and $70 million in
highway user tax money, also intended for roads.
“This would hurt fire districts, cities, and counties
in particular,” Jacob said.
Under Proposition 1A suspension, the state would have
to pay the money back within three years, including interest,
but Jacob isn’t optimistic.
“There’s no guarantee that they’ll ever pay it back,”
she said. According to her, non-receipt of payments would result
in lawsuits, and that would still provide no guarantee.
“We’ve won lawsuits for the county before, and we still
have not seen our money, and some of these lawsuits go back 10
years plus,” she said.
Jacob used the word ‘borrow’ synonymously with the word
‘steal’.
“When they say ‘borrow,’ it’s really a steal. They’re
stealing our local money,” she said.
Jacob has been in contact with state legislators to
offer suggestions. She suggested an alignment of state
expenditures with state revenues and advised that state
legislators follow the county’s example of prioritizing and
cutting.
An unbalanced state budget would require the county
budget to be restructured.
Jacob closed in saying the taxpayers and those in need
of services will feel the pain of the state’s troubles and “are
really going to pay.”
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