San Bernardino County Talks Budget Impact During Recent Meeting

The State Senate Budget Committee hit the road Friday afternoon, bringing its hearing on California’s budget issues to the Inland Empire.

The hearing at Cal Poly Pomona was the only one in Southern California this fiscal year and included testimony from San Bernardino County school and law enforcement representatives about what the failure to pass some hotly debated tax extensions could mean for their programs.

State senators Bill Emmerson, (R-Hemet), Gloria Negrete McLeod, (D-Chino), Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), Michael Rubio (D-Bakersfield), Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) and Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) participated in the hearing. Sen. Mark Leno, (D-San Francisco), chaired the hearing, giving an overview of the state’s original $26.6 billion shortfall.  The Legislature has made $14 billion in cuts so far and must now bridge the remaining $13.6 billion gap, he said.

“We are like every state in the country in that we are experiencing the effects of an international economic crisis,” Leno said.  “(Because of the) greed and recklessness of Wall Street bankers, we are all here picking up the pieces.”

The state is at its lowest level of revenues since the early 1970s, Leno said.  The governor has called for the extension of some existing taxes, to be approved by voters, to help fill the remaining $13 billion hole.  State Republican lawmakers have resisted the extensions, instead calling for regulatory and pension reforms.

The day before the hearing, vice chair Huff and Emmerson, the committee’s two Republican representatives put out a joint statement calling the meeting a “budget road show,” designed to scare people into supporting the tax extensions. 

“…Republicans have pointed out that there many ways to reduce spending and increase government efficiency that maintain public safety and protect funding in children’s classrooms,” the statement read.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Chief John McMahon said his agency has already made $12 million in cuts, including putting all patrol officers on 12-hour shifts to reduce overtime and divert some deputies to the jails.  At this point, the department is facing a $21 million shortfall next year, he said. If the vehicle license fees, one of the taxes the governor wants to extend, expire, the Sheriff’s Department will lose $3 million and probation $8 million, McMahon said.

“We will have to look at how we do business,” he said.

McMahon said he also is concerned about a proposal to transfer inmates from state facilities to local jails. 

Leno said the governor has been clear that without block grant money, the realignment of the state’s prison system won’t happen. The plan calls for the county to take the lower-level offenders, but there will be flexibility, he said.  Some will be monitored electronically, he said. Others might be put into treatment, because most are drug offenders, but there is not funding for that right now, Leno said.

Leno ran through a list of potential cuts the Legislative Analyst’s Office suggested should the current vehicle license fee and other taxes not be extended beyond their June 30th expiration date. He said the list of cuts were just what could happen and nothing definite.

The Legislative Analyst Office is a non-partisan entity that provides the governor with budget suggestions.  The LAO has recommended $2.6 billion in additional cuts to courts and criminal justice, which could result in the closing of two prisons, the elimination of state funding for local law enforcement, and the closing of courts one day a week. 

With the tax extensions, Prop. 98 funding for K-12 education would remain steady at $49.3 billion, Leno said. Without them, the LAO suggests funding be reduced to $44.5 billion, equating to 51,000 teacher layoffs statewide, increased class sizes, and a shortened school year, he said.

Gary Thomas, superintendent of the San Bernardino County Office of Education, said education has taken a disproportionate share of cuts in the past three years. 

Without the tax extensions, San Bernardino County schools will see $5 billion in cuts, $825 per student.

“I’m not sure how to get to $825,” Thomas said.  “We would have to take a severe look at the (education) code and we would have to change that to get to $825.  I’m not sure that would be a wise decision for our children.”