Council members held their noses Wednesday night and voted 4-1
to endorse state propositions 57 and 58. They did not agree to
endorse Proposition 56. Councilman Larry Carr was the lone vote
against the endorsement, not because he disapproved necessarily but
because he had not yet made up his mind how he will vote on March
2.
Council members held their noses Wednesday night and voted 4-1 to endorse state propositions 57 and 58. They did not agree to endorse Proposition 56.
Councilman Larry Carr was the lone vote against the endorsement, not because he disapproved necessarily but because he had not yet made up his mind how he will vote on March 2.
“I think this is a terrible way to legislate,” Carr said. “There are other ways to handle this.”
Prop. 57 is Gov. Schwarzenegger’s request to borrow $15 billion to issue bonds to pay for the huge state budget deficit.
Prop. 58 is the California Balanced Budget Act and would require the legislature to balance the budget – where state spending does not exceed estimated revenues. It allows a governor to proclaim a fiscal emergency, at which point the legislature would stop all action and work on the emergency. The proposition also sets up a budget reserve.
Morgan Hill’s generous budget reserve has eased the income/outgo gap in the past two years.
Both 57 and 58 must pass for either of them to become law.
Mayor Dennis Kennedy lobbied for an endorsement on all three propositions.
“From what I’ve heard from the (League of California Cities), the impacts on local governments (if prop. 57/58 do not pass) will be draconian,” Kennedy said.
No council member was at all enthusiastic about voting to endorse; several said they were worried that, even with the bond, the state would still arrive regularly on City Hall’s doorstep with its hand out.
“The funding mechanism to pay for this will come from us,” Carr said. “It will come from some of our sales taxes – it will be in place for many, many years.”
Carr predicted that the effects of the $15 billion bond would be so severe that, in several years, a tax increase would have to be passed after all.
City Manager Ed Tewes told the council that the state would be taking one-quarter of every cent of sales taxes the city takes in. Sales taxes are a significant part of the general fund that pays for police and fire protection, recreation services and city administration.
Councilman Steve Tate was worried too.
“I just couldn’t get away from what they will do to us if the proposition doesn’t pass,” Tate said.
Councilman Greg Sellers was equally unoptimistic.
“This is absolutely horrible, unless you consider the options,” Sellers said.
Proposition 56 would reduce the current two-thirds majority required to pass any tax-related issue down to 55 percent.
Other measures on the March 2 ballot of interest to Morgan Hill voters are Measure C, an extention and update of the city’s residential growth-control ordinance; Measure B, the extension of a minor tax to operate county libraries and Measure E, a $108 million bond issue to renovate and upgrade Gavilan Community College in Gilroy.
