GILROY
– Hold your nose and vote. That’s what a majority of Santa Clara
County supervisors did Tuesday in putting their reluctant support
behind state ballot propositions 57 and 58 on Tuesday.
GILROY – Hold your nose and vote. That’s what a majority of Santa Clara County supervisors did Tuesday in putting their reluctant support behind state ballot propositions 57 and 58 on Tuesday.
The measures, which will be put to voters on the March 2 ballot, are the keystone of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s solution to the state’s historically large budget deficit.
Proposition 57, known as the Economic Recovery Bond Act, would give the state permission to borrow $15 billion to cover this year’s deficit. Proposition 58, the California Balanced Budget Act, would prohibit future deficit borrowing and require a balanced budget with reserves. It would also allow the governor to declare a fiscal emergency in which Legislators would have to drop other matters to address the emergency.
Proposition 57 bond would not take effect unless voters also approve the Balanced Budget Act.
“The county is supporting these propositions out of sheer necessity,” said Supervisor Pete McHugh, the board’s chair. “A failure to pass this legislation will leave California in peril.”
“It was done begrudgingly, because we know if it isn’t done, we’re going to take more hits,” said Supervisor Don Gage, who represents South County. “If the governor can’t get that loan, … he’s going to have to go back to cities and counties … to get more money out of us.”
“Proposition 57 is a bitter pill to swallow, but not supporting this means even more drastic cuts than are already in place,” said Supervisor Liz Kniss, whose District 5 includes the northwest part of the county.
The state Assembly passed Proposition 57 by a vote of 65-13, the Senate by 27-12. Proposition 58 was less controversial; the Assembly passed it 80-0, the Senate by 35-5.
Supervisors’ views may have been colored by their own tight budget situation, which they also discussed Tuesday morning. County sales tax revenues have decreased in each the last 10 quarters.
Gage said the county is already looking at $175 million in cuts for fiscal year 2004-05, which starts in June, “and that number keeps growing.” He expects to surpass $200 million in cuts before the budget is finalized.
The cuts would be distributed across county service organizations, Gage said; no service would be hit significantly harder than others. However, it still means more scaling back for agencies that already saw cuts this year, such as the Sheriff’s Department and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.
They also supported Measure B for the libraries
