State budget proposal will rob Anderson of another $650,000 in revenues

As proposed, the Big 5 state budget proposal negotiated by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and top leaders from the State Senate and State Assembly will rob $650,000 from Anderson city revenues, Interim City Manager Dana Shigley told the city council Tuesday, July 21.

The budget proposal, which faces stiff opposition from most Assembly and Senate Republicans, would balance the state's $28 billion deficit, in part, by taking $1.7 billion back from gas tax revenues that most cities use to maintain their streets and public roads, Shigley said.

For Anderson, that means a $200,000 reduction on top of the significant decline -- nearly 40 percent -- in gasoline sales tax revenues that the city has already experienced, she said.

The additional $200,000 reduction "will severely limit our ability to provide safe streets," she said.

This will reduce the city's "ability to clear drains in winter resulting in local flooding," she added.

Additionally, "pothole filling and pavement repair will be substantially curtailed" and "all street sweeping will likely be eliminated, resulting in clogged drains and driving hazards" when winter's hard rains occur, she said.

The state's five top leaders are also proposing a $1.7 billion take-back of redevelopment property taxes earned by local jurisdictions, something that Shigley and officials in other cities are calling an "unconstitutional raid."

Such a taking would remove $250,000 in property taxes that Anderson would normally dedicate to promoting "economic development and low income housing programs," Shigley said.

"This grab of local funds will nearly eliminate these programs just at the time when we need them more than ever!" Shigley said.

Finally, the state's leadership is proposal to borrow another $1.8 billion in property taxes from cities statewide.

This is "another $200,000 hit to the Anderson general fund," said Shigley.

"This is money that pays for law enforcement. Cuts like this are likely to impact public safety. We already are leaving police positions vacant because we don't have the money to fill them. This reduction will make matters worse," Shigley said.

"And will they ever repay the funds?" she asked rhetorically, citing the state's many promises to do so in the past with little, if no, results when the deadlines arrived and were missed time after time.

"The proposed state budget absolutely does not solve any state fiscal problems," Shigley stated flatly.

"As usual, it relies on budget gimmicks and taking funds from local government in order to 'balance' their budget," Shigley concluded.

Shigley was to join with city and county officials for a 3 p.m. press conference at Redding City Hall today, July 22, to voice these and other concerns.