BUDGET ARMAGEDDON

Let us vote on taxes
By Kelvin Wade
February 17, 2011

Two weeks ago, in his State of the State address, Gov. Jerry Brown might have better dramatized our fiscal plight by setting what's left of his hair on fire and running up and down the aisles in the Capitol.

Brown's budget takes a light saber to redevelopment agencies, social services, health care and higher education to the tune of $12.5 billion. And he wants to place a measure on the ballot to extend temporary tax increases another five years to raise an additional $12 billion.

Of course, if Republicans don't agree to put the tax measure on the ballot or if voters reject it, more massive cuts will have to be made. At the time of the State of the State, Mayor Harry Price said, 'If I were the governor I would lay out the scenario very clearly.' While the governor has been reluctant to do so, the Legislative Analyst's Office just did.

It's virtual budget Armageddon.

More than $5 billion would be cut out of K-12 education. Children who turn 5 after Sept. 1 will be barred from enrolling in kindergarten.

Class sizes from K-3 will explode. Can you imagine what affect that's going to have on learning and discipline?

Students around the state still receiving state-funded bus service to school can kiss it goodbye.

Going to Solano Community College is already going to be more expensive as unit fees rise. Without the tax measure, fees will be higher; classes will be slashed and state money for intercollegiate sports eliminated.

Tuition at University of California campuses could increase by 7 percent, and by 10 percent at California State University campuses. CSU enrollment would be cut by 5 percent. Research money at universities would be chopped.

Public safety grants could take a $500 million hit, sending at-risk teens onto the streets instead of into after-school programs. Now the 'place to be after three' is ransacking your bedroom. At the same time, we could sack prison-building projects and reduce parole from three years to 18 months while shifting responsibility to monitoring these ex-cons to local governments. Good luck with that.

We would eliminate Adult Protective Services and reduce wages for In-Home Supportive Care workers to minimum wage. We can take assistance away from legal immigrants. This would be in addition to the deep cuts Brown's budget already makes in MediCal, CalWorks Welfare to Work programs and other programs geared to the elderly and disabled.

Automated speed enforcement cameras would be implemented to raise revenue through more tickets.

State employees would see two more days of furloughs amounting to a 9.24 percent pay cut. Whack! In addition, the state would cut its contribution to employee health care by 30 percent. So state workers could see their pay go down and health care costs increase.

Court employees would see two furlough days.

Reading through the analyst's report, it's striking to see the words 'end' and 'eliminate' with regard to various programs. It's numbers on a page but we're talking about people's lives and the ripple effect this will have on families, jobs, health and business in this state.

These cuts would come on top of Brown's Grinch-like budget. A Public Policy Institute poll last month showed two-thirds of Californians want the tax measure on the ballot and 53 percent would support it. Republicans should at least give us the option to avoid these additional cuts. Peace.

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ADDITIONAL NOTES: I don't want to pay higher taxes or endure cuts that will affect me personally. That makes me like most Californians. But we're in crisis. And it's a matter of us doing something to perserve some of what we have rather than doing nothing and losing everything. I could write more but it would be redundant. Let us vote. If we vote it down, then we have to live with the budget cuts. But at least give us the choice.


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