Contra Costa Supervisors thumb nose at Grand Jury Report
June 24, 2008
The Contra Costa County Supervisors (BOS) revved up its dissembling machine last week and thumbed its collective nose at the recent Grand Jury Report (GJR) that recommended seven action items. In its “Supervisors Chip Away at County’s Mountain of Debt,” the GJR outlined 31 matters of fact, seven modest recommendations, and concluded that: Read more
California budget beyond repair
June 19, 2008
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men…Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee sums up the chaos in Sacramento over the failure of the Legislature to meet the budget deadline (once again). He says: “Democratic leaders insist that they are being straightforward by proposing new taxes and eschewing the accounting gimmicks that have marked past budgets, but by plugging in multibillion-dollar revenue numbers without saying what taxes they want to raise or which loopholes they want to close, they’re still bobbing and weaving. Republican legislators are, however, being even less candid; they say they oppose new taxes but aren’t willing to say what they want to cut.” Walters concludes: Read more
Voter compares records of Supervisor Piepho and Assemblyman Houston
May 19, 2008
When I make a decision to mark my ballot, I do my homework first. When it comes to choosing a candidate, I look at their record and pretty much ignore their campaign promises. It can be a real eye opener. Read more
Grand Jury chides Contra Costa Supervisors for failure to make meaningful change to County OPEB debt
May 17, 2008
Contra Costa County has reached a critical juncture regarding its escalating retiree health care benefit costs. The unfunded financial liability is now estimated to be approximately $1.74 billion. That figure is more than Contra Costa County’s total annual operating budget, and nearly equal to the unfunded liabilities for Alameda, Orange, and San Diego Counties combined. Read more
Supervisors slash services to protect union jobs
May 7, 2008
BUDGET 20008 — CLAIMS WE CAN’T BELIEVE IN
YES THEY CAN. Contra Costa County Supervisors (BOS) passed its 2008-09 budget by slashing county services to the poor and public safety. Let’s cut thru the spin from the Contra Costa Times:
- $51 million cut is still only 3.9 percent of $1.3 billion overall budget.
- “clamping down” and “capping subsidies” on health care benefits for non-union employees is serious cherry picking of low hanging fruit instead of dealing with union employees. Read more
Local One can solve county’s $51-million budget crisis in 2 minutes
May 4, 2008
A recent article by Marica Fritz of the Sacrmento Bee got me thinking. She contends that local public employee unions have all the power. They dominate electeds, communities, business interests, and taxpayers. In Russian, they got the juice (k’to komo), and could easily solve the fiscal crisis unfolding statewide. Read more
Who’s in charge of MDUSD budget?
April 23, 2008
The MDUSD blog of Gary Eberhart and Paul Strange have posted another article critical of Supervisor McHenry. This time over questions about the budget and the breathtaking statements from the Supe such as, “I don’t have an actual role in budget development.” Hello? Read more
ALEC Laffer report shows California in poor shape
April 10, 2008
A new publication by the American Legislative Exchange Council, Rich States/Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index, is an invaluable resource for state lawmakers and citizens to evaluate their state’s fiscal and economic policies, while analyzing their results and ramifications. See the Home Page for the report. See the section on California.
Here is the Executive Summary, with excerpts:
It is telling that a state as beautiful as California has the nation’s second-largest domestic population outflow. Despite warm weather, sandy beaches and the Pacific Ocean, Californians are leaving in droves to escape the state’s oppressive tax burden. These former citizens are generally the “highest achievers and those with the most wealth, capital, and entrepreneurial drive,” leaving the state much less economically productive in their wake.
… some states show little concern for spending restraint, whether during times of prosperity or poverty—in some cases spending their way into financial ruin. The case of recalled governor Gray Davis of California serves as an important example. By coupling high taxes with rampant government spending, California had a budget crisis of historic proportions. At the time, Carl DeMaio of The Performance Institute argued for the “need to stimulate the economy without further burdening taxpayers or driving more businesses out of state.” It is clear that California did not follow that advice and still doesn’t. Unless our current lawmakers choose the path of fiscal restraint, the mistake could soon be repeated.
This is not about Republican versus Democrat, or left versus right. It is simply a choice between economic vitality and economic malaise. To become competitive in the global business environment of the 21st century, states must have free-market, pro-growth tax systems in place, rather than increasing the ever-burdensome role of government on citizens. May this publication help lawmakers act responsibly by encouraging capital formation and allowing the dreams and entrepreneurial spirit of their fellow man to flourish.
Warren Rupf’s message in Sheriff’s Posse Newsletter
April 1, 2008
SHERIFF’S POSSE OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY NEWSLETTER APRIL-JUNE 2008
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Sheriff Warren Rupf
Over the past few years, I have asked you to lend your voice to our calls for fiscal reasonableness in budgeting for public safety. Sometimes we’ve been heard, sometimes we haven’t. This year, it appears that we haven’t been heard.
The County Administrator began the budgeting cycle by informing all Department Heads that they are responsible for the increases in salary and benefits that were negotiated by the County last year. This amounts to an immediate $12 million shortfall to our 08/09 budget. In addition, the Board of Supervisors has decided to begin to address a $2.6 billion shortfall in other post employment benefits (OPEB). They have committed to reducing the County liability and have targeted investing $20 million in next year’s budget toward that goal. The County Administrator has advised that our share of that expense is $4.3 million, another large hit. Several other changes, including a 3% reduction in the County’s general fund contribution to our budget, have made the picture even more dismal.
By program reductions and the utilization of one time revenue, we have been able to mitigate the impact of these cuts to some extent. However, once these actions are taken, it will not be possible to lessen the impact of future budget cuts.
The end result of all these cuts is that we are preparing for a budget that will be approximately $10 million lower than our requirements for a 08/09 maintenance budget (which already held $6 million of staff positions vacant). Since 88% of our budget is directly related to personnel costs, these cuts equate to 57 Deputy Sheriff Positions.
When we have been forced to consider eliminating positions in the past, it has always been my policy to maintain our essential core services wherever possible. However, a reduction of this magnitude will radically alter the way in which we conduct day-to-day business. In addition to eliminating a number of civilian staff positions, we will be forced to stop all narcotics and vice investigations, and the investigation of most property crimes. Our Patrol functions will also suffer. We will be forced to close and consolidate at least one Patrol substation and discontinue the response to “cold” field reports. Our Marine Patrol will lose all positions that aren’t directly funded by revenue or grants. All of these changes will result in a dramatic reduction in our ability to provide public safety protection to our community.
I hope my comments will challenge you to consider what you might do. The answer is, to act; to act by taking a public position with regard to funding priorities and, if we are to have any influence, our action must occur immediately. I ask each of you to call or write members of the Board of Supervisors encouraging them, no, insisting that they properly fund Sheriff’s services. For those of you who have the time and perhaps existing relationships and influence, the best contacts are one-on-one. If you do that, and do it now, we may avoid the proposed reductions.
I have often said that the Posse of ours is seldom called upon to act, but this is one of those times when your support both individually and collectively, is essential to the task at hand. If we do not act, our influence and priorities will be displaced by those who are willing to act.
