PUBLISHED 7/20/08

Do you know what a “ripoff” is? It is when Democrats and Republicans in Sacramento don’t have the interest or the guts to fix the state’s budget mess, so they allow the pain to roll downhill to the cities and counties Californians rely on for their day-to-day government services.

So Democrats can keep spending and Republicans can keep saying “no” to closing tax loopholes and raising taxes, plans are taking shaping to raid local government funds held by the state for “safe keeping.”

Earlier raids on local government funds occurred when state budgets sank into deep deficit holes. But voters may have thought they blocked the move when they approved the governor’s 2004 megabonds for rebuilding California. The ballot measures included borrowing limits that allow legislators and the governor to “transfer” funds only in two budget years per decade. The money has to be paid  back.

The idea was to allow the state to use “special fund” money to plug short-term budget holes, not to enable the continuance of a dysfunctional budgeting system. But guess what, legislators are eyeing this money to avoid making tough political choices and reforming the way state government is financed.

Facing a $15.2 billion deficit, legislators are considering grabbing money from local government and transportation funds. Jim Earp, executive director of California Alliance for Jobs, told Sacramento reporters that legislators also may siphon off transportation funds from the sales tax on gasoline.

This news comes as the Kern County Board of Supervisors begins hearings Monday on the county’s budget — a lean spending plan that calls for 16 layoffs, shorter library hours and browner county parks. The library and county parks systems are expected to be particularly hard-hit in this budget. A total of 54 county positions would be eliminated.

Last month, the Bakersfield City Council approved a budget that kept 60 open positions unfilled and eliminated five more. Local school districts and other government agencies have cut staffs and eliminated programs. All are waiting for the other shoe to fall — the consequences of state budget decisions.

We have seen it year after year. There’s the outright borrowing. This year, that also could mean borrowing from voter-established “special funds,” such as unspent First 5 (Proposition 10 tobacco tax) money  and Proposition 63 mental health money. Even  Proposition 42 money — the huge bond measure we were promised would rebuild California’s crumbling roads system — is being targeted.

Then there’s responsibility shifting — a  subtle ripoff, where the state keeps mandating that services be provided, but shifts the cost to local government.

The big problem with all this borrowing is that it doesn’t fix anything. It just allows lawmakers and the governor to keep doing what they’ve been doing without fixing the state’s budget machine.

And what are lawmakers and the governor doing about this? Not much. Adoption of the state budget is more than two weeks overdue. Democrats are drawing lines in the sand over cutting programs. They have also proposed billions in new taxes, mostly targeting the rich. Republicans are refusing to close tax loopholes — not even the yacht tax scam — and holding their collective breaths on tax raising.

And the governor? Well, he’s getting impatient. He told The Sacramento Bee that he really didn’t “want to interfere” with legislators’ deliberative process, but “it’s almost like there is no emergency there. ... At one point or the other, you have to say, like they do with labor negotiations, ‘let us sit in the room and not leave the room until it's done.’”
Yawn. The Governator’s words and leadership are underwhelming.

Here’s an idea, Arnold. Slip on one of your action-figure costumes and start acting like a big bad governor. Kick a little legislative booty and get these budget talks going. Adopt a responsible spending plan.

Oh, and while you’re at it, make good on your promise to actually fix our dysfunctional state government, rather than just enabling it.