Stopping state raids essential to protecting local services

San Mateo Daily Journal

January 19, 2010

OpEd

By David J. Canepa, Councilmember, Daly City

The start of a New Year is always an important time to reflect upon the past and make your resolutions for the future. As a member of the Daly City Council, part of that reflection includes an evaluation of the state of our city and our region, and deciding what changes we as your locally elected representatives need to make to improve the quality of services we provide local residents.

This year, more than ever, it is increasingly clear that to protect and improve the services we provide Daly City residents, we must take action to stop the state’s irresponsible practice of raiding, borrowing or otherwise redirecting funds that are supposed to go to local governments, including cities, counties and special districts.  

Despite the fact that California voters have passed a previous measure to stop state politicians from taking local government funds, State lawmakers continuously find and exploit loopholes in the law to borrow, raid or shift city and county funds for state purposes.

To stop such raids, I have joined with a coalition of local elected officials, public safety officials, business and labor leaders, public transit and transportation advocates which recently began collecting signatures to qualify the “Local Taxpayer, Public Safety and Transportation Protection Act” for California’s November 2010 statewide ballot.

If passed, this measure will close loopholes and prevent the state from borrowing or taking local government funds, including funds for cities in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties and San Francisco, as well. It also protects existing gas taxes we pay at the pump which voters have dedicated to public transit services as well as transportation improvements like pothole and road safety repairs.

California’s cities, counties and special districts provide the most important services that we all rely upon, including fire protection and emergency response services, law enforcement, parks, libraries and after school programs for at-risk youth. Local governments also run community health clinics, operate public hospitals and provide senior services, welfare and social services for low-income families. We operate public transit systems, providing bus, rail and shuttle services that get families to work, school, medical appointments or the grocery store.

But these vital local services have taken a devastating hit in recent years, in part because of the sagging economy, but also in large part because state lawmakers have raided billions of dollars in local government funds year after year.  

In just the last budget cycle, state lawmakers borrowed approximately $2 billion in property taxes from local governments; took $2.05 billion in local redevelopment funds which are vital to providing affordable housing, jobs and economic growth in urban areas. In Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most recent state budget proposal released Jan. 8, he proposed shifting a whopping $1.5 billion from transit agencies statewide.

Locally, because of state raids and our own budgetary problems, cities from San Francisco to Gilroy have been forced to take drastic measures to balance their budgets. For example, Brisbane’s elimination of two police officers reduced the city’s ability for patrol coverage, and the elimination of three firefighters led to increased overtime costs due to decreased staffing ability.

Daly City, facing a $4.6 million deficit for 2009-10 had to cut 40 full-time positions and reduce services across the board. San Carlos lost seven police officers and ten miscellaneous full-time employees due to a 20 percent reduction in staff.

By stopping state raids of local government and transportation funds, the Local Taxpayer, Public Safety and Transportation Protection Act will keep more of our local tax dollars local, thus providing more accountability to local residents. It will also safeguard vital public safety, transportation and other local government services from further, devastating cuts.

We need to collect more than 1 million signatures to ensure this measure makes the statewide ballot. We encourage you to seek out the signature gatherers in front of your local grocery store or strip mall and sign the petition. Or you can request a petition online and get more information at www.savelocalservices.com.

As we look back on 2010 12 months from now, it will be rewarding to know that we banded together with the voters of California to protect local taxpayers and local government services from continued State raids.