GILROY
– Local leaders say the state Legislature’s recent agreement on
a tentative budget does not adversely impact the city’s budget.
GILROY – Local leaders say the state Legislature’s recent agreement on a tentative budget does not adversely impact the city’s budget.
The city budget, which City Council has been working with for the past month, seems to match the state budget Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders expect to pass by the end of the week.
“We approved a budget back in June that was, from a financial point of view, exactly what was (proposed by the state),” City Administrator Jay Baksa said. Although he is pleased with most of the budget deal, he is concerned that the state can still collect traditional city revenues.
“They are basically taking money from cities because they are the collection agency,” he said. Baksa does, however, believe the agreement is a step in the right direction because it does not take additional revenue from cities and counties.
“You have to start somewhere,” he said.
Gilroy Unified School District is waiting for a summary briefing from School Services of California to assess the budget’s affect on the district. Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services Steve Brinkman expects School Services to send the summary to local districts in the next couple of days and to hold a seminar next week.
The state budget deal, which imposes no new taxes and uses billions of dollars in borrowing to balance, needs approval from two-thirds of the Legislature.
Democrats got Schwarzenegger to back away from deep cuts to health and welfare programs by using billions of dollars in loans and one-time savings to close a spending gap estimated at $17 billion in January.
Republicans dropped their ambition to revise a 2002 law that largely prohibits schools from hiring private bus, janitorial and landscaping companies. In exchange they got an agreement to change a law signed during the final days of Gov. Gray Davis’ administration last year that allows workers to sue their employers over labor code violations.
Finally, the two sides have agreed on reforming local government financing – an issue that had stalled negotiations for much of the last month.
While proponents call the budget plan balanced, it contains more than $5 billion in borrowing as well as at least $1.5 billion in accounting gimmicks and savings that may not be realized – such as a plan to take part of punitive damage awards in lawsuits.
The centerpiece of the budget is $2.7 billion in bond money approved by voters in March.
