Don't continue to plunder resources
San Bernardino Sun
January 25, 2010
Don't continue to plunder resources
Op-Ed
Pat Gilbreath, Mayor of Redlands
With cities facing falling sales and property tax revenue, officials in our state capital need to understand they cannot continue to plunder local resources to make amends for their mistakes. After nearly two years of floundering, the state is still facing a reported $20 billion shortfall and intends on correcting that error at the expense of municipalities.
As the mayor of Redlands and a board member of the League of California Cities, Inland Empire Division, I will do everything in my power to prevent this atrocity. I will also strive to accomplish the League of California Cities' goal of protecting local control and abolish the power of the state to borrow, divert or impose restrictions on the use of all local revenue sources.
As a city official, I urge my fellow elected officers and their respective staffs, along with the business community, to get involved in the campaign to protect funding for vital public services.
Obviously, elected officials and city staffs cannot participate during work hours or use city telephones or technology for this purpose.
On my own time, I am in the process of gathering at least 100 signatures from San Bernardino County registered voters to support the group "Californians to Protect Local Taxpayers and Vital Services." This coalition is supporting the Local Taxpayer, Public Safety and Transportation Act of 2010, and attempting to collect more than 1.1 million signatures to ensure it meets the required 694,354 valid signatures needed to qualify a constitutional amendment for the statewide ballot. If it qualifies, it will appear on the November 2010 statewide ballot.
State officials need to act efficiently, economically and ethically on behalf of local citizens.
When legislators are under the misguided impression they can just take more from the people to resolve their issues, we must all join the struggle against this injustice. The decisions made by those in Sacramento have led to local infrastructure projects being postponed or canceled, renegotiated bargaining unit contracts and pension plans, and the layoff of valued employees.
It is deplorable that county boards of supervisors, city councils, and students attending public institutions throughout the state have had to take this battle to the courts. Local revenue supports the essential efforts in maintaining the critical resources provided to the community on a daily basis. Fiscal responsibility by our elected officials at the state level should be a given, not an anomaly.
The effort to qualify this essential measure will only be successful with the community's support. The state's continued raid on local resources is crippling transit and transportation funds, along with vital city government services that support you as citizens.
The business community should rally behind this effort to assure that local business can begin to prosper without the fear of constant pilfering of local dollars that are used to purchase necessary supplies and services for the local communities.
We are also asking all chambers of commerce to have the necessary signature gathering tools that can be obtained as indicated above.
Pat Gilbreath is mayor of Redlands.