Revenge of the State
As I noted in one of Sunday's posts, the Governor seems to be backing off of his proposal to "borrow" a couple of billion dollars from local government. The legislature has made it clear that they don't like the idea.
Unfortunately, the state and the legislature are finding other ways to tap the dollars out of us instead. For example, CalTrans has stopped performing certain studies for freeway improvements, that will likely cost Manteca at least $100 grand this year. On the public safety front, they'll be gouging us on booking fees and charging for the crime lab, adding over $130K per year to our costs. I'm sure we'll be learning about lots of other cuts as the summer continues.
All this is in addition to their theft of road maintenance funds. As noted in the Bulletin today, the Council has taken action to support the League of Cities action to litigate this taking of funds. The state is also taking another shot at our redevelopment funds. In early May, a judge ruled that they couldn't take our RDA funds. Here is the latest from our association that protects our redevelopment funds:
On Monday, June 15, the Budget Conference Committee agreed to include language in a budget trailer bill to take $350 million in redevelopment funds as ERAF shifts for each of three years—the current fiscal year plus fiscal years 2009-10 and 2010-11. The total take from redevelopment agencies would be an astounding $1.05 billion!
The Committee apparently believes that language directing the money be spent on schools in redevelopment project areas would address the Constitutional challenge made by the California Redevelopment Association (CRA). CRA’s attorneys disagree.
The vote was 6-0, with 4 abstentions along party lines. All Democratic members voted for taking redevelopment funds for three years as follows: Committee Chair and Assembly Member Noreen Evans, Vice Chair and Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny, Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), Assembly Member Bob Blumenfield (D-Van Nuys), and Assembly Member Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles). All Republican members of the Committee abstained and did not announce their position on the take.
Once again, there is no bill language to review, no bill number, and no author. For the time-being, agencies should assume amounts to be taken are triple the amounts estimated for this year’s ERAF shift that was overturned in court.
This proposal would extract over $1.3 million per year from our Redevelopment Agency. I'm confident that we'll be able to win in court on both ERAF and the road maintenance funds. However, I'm not confident we'll be able to go to court before the state finalizes its budget. As this is a fast moving situation, I'll continue to update the blog as things evolve.
Unfortunately, the state and the legislature are finding other ways to tap the dollars out of us instead. For example, CalTrans has stopped performing certain studies for freeway improvements, that will likely cost Manteca at least $100 grand this year. On the public safety front, they'll be gouging us on booking fees and charging for the crime lab, adding over $130K per year to our costs. I'm sure we'll be learning about lots of other cuts as the summer continues.
All this is in addition to their theft of road maintenance funds. As noted in the Bulletin today, the Council has taken action to support the League of Cities action to litigate this taking of funds. The state is also taking another shot at our redevelopment funds. In early May, a judge ruled that they couldn't take our RDA funds. Here is the latest from our association that protects our redevelopment funds:
On Monday, June 15, the Budget Conference Committee agreed to include language in a budget trailer bill to take $350 million in redevelopment funds as ERAF shifts for each of three years—the current fiscal year plus fiscal years 2009-10 and 2010-11. The total take from redevelopment agencies would be an astounding $1.05 billion!
The Committee apparently believes that language directing the money be spent on schools in redevelopment project areas would address the Constitutional challenge made by the California Redevelopment Association (CRA). CRA’s attorneys disagree.
The vote was 6-0, with 4 abstentions along party lines. All Democratic members voted for taking redevelopment funds for three years as follows: Committee Chair and Assembly Member Noreen Evans, Vice Chair and Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny, Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), Assembly Member Bob Blumenfield (D-Van Nuys), and Assembly Member Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles). All Republican members of the Committee abstained and did not announce their position on the take.
Once again, there is no bill language to review, no bill number, and no author. For the time-being, agencies should assume amounts to be taken are triple the amounts estimated for this year’s ERAF shift that was overturned in court.
This proposal would extract over $1.3 million per year from our Redevelopment Agency. I'm confident that we'll be able to win in court on both ERAF and the road maintenance funds. However, I'm not confident we'll be able to go to court before the state finalizes its budget. As this is a fast moving situation, I'll continue to update the blog as things evolve.
posted by City Manager @ 6:59 AM
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