State Revenue Continues to drop

From "Capitol Alert":

The latest on California politics and government
May 8, 2009
Controller: State's revenues $2.1 billion below estimates
California has received $2.1 billion less this year in tax revenues than projected in the February budget, according to State Controller John Chiang.
In April alone, the state's General Fund revenues were down $1.89 billion, 16 percent below what the February budget projected.

This is on top of the $8 billion hole projected in March. If the ballot measures fail, that would add another $5.8 billion, leaving the State a whopping $16 billion in the hole. This may not be the final number as the Legislative Analyst's Office hasn't updated their numbers since March.

The bottom line for those of us in local government is that we should just assume that the State is going to take another chunk of our revenues next year. The magnitude of the number is not known yet, but for Manteca it will certainly number in the millions of dollars. Hopefully, the number will be somewhat mollified by an acknowledgement from the State that they are going to have to start cutting at the bone, just as we are doing at the local level.

Someday, State government is going to cease to function and then they will be forced to make the fundamental changes necessary to survive in today's world. Until that time, we at the local level are going to have to continue to assume that our revenues are going to take a hit every year and we should plan accordingly.