Posted on 04/22/2004 11:17:06 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and local governments are close to agreement on a deal that would provide cities and counties a bigger share of the property tax in exchange for an agreement on one-time cuts.
Officials close to the negotiations say Schwarzenegger has shown new interest in satisfying local governments following qualification last week of a November initiative that protect cities and counties from future raids on their revenue sources by the state.
According to a memo from the California State Association of Counties, local officials have proposed a one-time $816 million cut to be equally shared between cities, counties, special districts and redevelopment agencies; public libraries would also accept a $16 million reduction.
The proposed funding cut is a counter offer to the governor's plan to make a permanent cut of $1.3 billion in funding to local government.
The negotiations take place as the governor's attention moves from workers' compensation reform - pushed through the Legislature last week - to the annual May revision of the state budget due out in the coming weeks.
The governor's $99 billion January spending plan included a number of one-time savings and borrowing to close most of an expected $17 billion spending gap in 2004-2005. He also proposed more than $9 billion in savings from service cuts - much of which was directed at health care and social service programs.
Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature, have said they do not want to cut public health as much as Schwarzenegger has proposed and most observers expect the coming budget battle will focus on spending for the needy.
The pending agreement with cities and counties is not expected to measurably change the number of dollars the governor will have to work with.
Meanwhile a team of bureaucrats, selected by Schwarzenegger, is at work on a proposal to overhaul the state government that would eliminate entire state departments, consolidate others and terminate up to 200 state boards and commissions, The Orange County Register reported.
The plan by the California Performance Review would be the largest reorganization of state government attempted in state history.
Recommendations could include consolidating most energy regulation under a newly created energy secretary, creating a new Department of Public Health, and combining the Department of Corrections and the California Youth Authority, according to those who have been briefed or interviewed by planners.
The reorganization plan would be reviewed by the Little Hoover Commission, a 13-member good-government panel based in Sacramento, and then sent to the Legislature, which would have 60 days to accept or reject the plan.
Schwarzenegger's office would not confirm or deny elements of the performance review's proposal.
The performance review is looking at state government and examining ways to be more efficient and cost effective, said Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Ashley Snee.
The same was said of Reagan. What you've gotten out of Arnold may be trumpeted as victory, but it is, in fact, a sham, just as was Prop 58. You just have yet to learn that.
He would have been too busy grandstanding and engaging in finger-pointing
It beats more debt, both public and private. You do know that he has been consistently re-elected in a district that has majority Democrat registration and voted for Gore?
What you'll get with Schwarzenegger is more socialist policies that produce more Democrats. You will also see the Republican Party do everything it can to freeze out conservatives, just the way Wilson did. It is a demographic losing battle, but it's great for corporate corruption as Wilson demonstrated.
Unfortunately, the RINOs get caught because the mediots hate them no matter what they do to placate leftist interests. The taint of that corruption falls on all Republicans, even conservatives that resisted it. Between that, the demographics, and corporate loyalties that fund BOTH parties, and the Republican Party has a dim future with RINOs in charge, not like their sponsors care a whit. They fund both parties.
It's a process that we have seen for over a decade in California. Don't think for a minute that the Kennedy clan behind Arnold doesn't understand it.
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