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Why government is so expensive in California

Michael Shires, professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine scratches the itch of why government is so expensive in California; including local county and municipal governments. Shires argues that it is just not a matter of increased taxes v. cutting services; this is how Democrats and Republicans in the California legislature paint the picture. Rather, revenue declines are only a small part of the problem. While services and their cost actually do not increase, the annual increase of secretly negotiated salary, benefits, and cost-of-living increases benefitting unionized public employees is killing budgets, savings, and family finances statewide. Read more

California spending more but enjoying it less

Someone from Southern California has finally stopped drinking the Kool Aid the California Legislature is serving up and asks: Where has all the money gone? This is the question that USC business professor, John Matsusaka, asked in the LA Timestly picked up widely by othert papers including the San Jose Mercury News. In fact, he asks the crucial question that if the state government is spending 40% more than it was four years ago, about the time Mark DeSaulnier has been an Assemblyman – why aren’t we feeling the impact of improved services, roads, schools, etc.? Masusaka asks, “Legislators, pundits and interest groups warn of dire consequences if state spending is slowed or cut. But if most Californians haven’t detected a significant change from the last $41 billion, including 40% more on schools, will they notice if some of that spending disappears?” Read more

Concord blogger balances California state budget

How hard can it be to balance the California Budget when anyone can do it in less than 5 minutes using the California Budget Challenge (CBC). My budget even includes a $1.5B surplus for a rainy day fund. And I did it pretty much without trashing Prop 98 or Prop 13, raising taxes or breaking the backs of the poor. Most of it was just keeping the status quo with no COLA this year for the prison guards. Read more

Joe Canciamilla on California budget stalemate

By Joe Canciamilla
For years California’s political leaders have been able to temporarily keep the State’s fiscal house of cards from collapsing. As someone who voted for and against a few of those budgets I know it took more than a few tricks to keep things afloat and to make a real solution more difficult to accomplish. Read more

California Democrats plan to eat the rich with tax proposal

The Sacramento Bee reports that Democrats are determined to eat the rich in California as it proposes “billions in tax increases on businesses and high earners to help bridge California’s budget shortfall. The proposed hikes include rolling back the dependent child income tax credit expanded in the 1990s, creating two higher income tax brackets for the state’s biggest earners and increasing corporate taxes.”

Quo vadis, Vallejo?

Taxpayers in Contra Costa (and around the world) are closely watching the implosion of the City of Vallejo into bankruptcy and wonder at potential outcomes. This week Vallejo asked judges to void four contracts with unionized public employees. A hearing is set for July 23. The city faces its first major bankruptcy milestone, tomorrow, Friday June 27, when city and union officials present their initial arguments to the court.

With an eye toward similar potential disaster in Contra Costa County, some wonder if it’s even possible to void such contracts. One observer opined that pro-union Democrat legislators have helped install safeguards against such
action, while another informed source quoted the California League of Cities, saying it was possible.

Meanwhile, an Open Letter that appeared in a recent edition
of Police Pay Journal, defends firefighters and police against poor municipal management and bad PR. Read more

Contra Costa Women join Sacramento tax protest

Immediately after Democrats in Sacramento proposed a California state budget with a $3-Billion deficit and $6.4 Billion in new taxes, the Republican Women of Contra Costa County, including the Lamorinda and Ygnacio Valley Republican Women Federated jumped into action. The lovely ladies, every one, hijacked a bus to Sacramento June 11, calmly lunched on the South lawn of the Capitol, then riotously marched to the steps of the Capitol, where they held a press conference, insisted conservative leaders fight for No-New-Taxes, then lobbied State legislative offices to deliver their petitions as legislators cowered in their closets. Read more

Benefits double county employee compensation

In his recent column, Dan Borenstein of the Times, shows how county employee benefits DOUBLE compensation.

Point-Counterpoint as Supervisor Piepho and Sheriff Rupf exchange letters

A recent exchange of letters between Supervisor Mary Piepho (D-3) and Sheriff Warren Rupf shows a deepening rift between the Sheriff’s Department and the profligate fiscal policy of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors (BOS).

In her letter to the Sheriff dated January 28, 2008, Supervisor Piepho requested increased Sheriff patrols in the Knightsen/Discovery area of the county due to a recent spate of burglaries. In a February 14 Valentine’s Day reply, Sheriff Rupf explains that while the department wants nothing more than to insure safety in those communities, the department, for the past two years, has been unable to convince the BOS to maintain public safety funding levels, and that the BOS has cut law enforcement by $2-million.

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