One week from today voters will decide the fate of school,
college and library districts and the state
’s financial future. Here in Morgan Hill, voters will pass
judgment on 20 years of residential growth control. In a nutshell,
here are the measures and propositions, what they will do and not
do.
One week from today voters will decide the fate of school, college and library districts and the state’s financial future.
Here in Morgan Hill, voters will pass judgment on 20 years of residential growth control.
In a nutshell, here are the measures and propositions, what they will do and not do.
• Measure B would continue the parcel tax, paid by homeowners, that helps operate the Morgan Hill library (plus Gilroy, Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Milpitas, Saratoga and the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County, plus the bookmobile) and raise it from $36.66 to $42 a year for a period of seven years. The current $36.66 fee will expire in 2005; the new $42 tax would pick up where the old one leaves off.
Measure B does not pay for libraries in other cities. County library officials say all money paid by Morgan Hill residents will be returned to the local library.
Measure B only concerns itself with keeping the doors of the present library open at current levels and buys new books, videos and magazines. It does nothing about building a new library for Morgan Hill; that is a separate and on-going effort.
• Measure C is on Morgan Hill ballots only. It asks for approval to update Measure P, the residential growth-control initiative that has proved successful enough in maintaining the city’s image and quality that no one, so far, has spoken against it.
Measure C mandates that the city will not grow larger than 48,000 by 2020 which works out to about 250 housing units a year. It improves the measure’s efficiency for city staff, Planning Commission and developers – the people who directly deal with the measure’s regulations.
Measure C also removes the east/west split, which caused unequal distribution in assigning allotments, or housing states. Instead, the new measure would encourage building in the downtown or near the city’s center, lessening the problems of taking city utilities to developments on the city’s borders. The measure would encourage two or three story mixed use buildings downtown, which has proved in other cities to be a more efficient use of space.
All told, Measure C includes 27 improvements, decided upon by a committee of citizens from every part of the community plus city staff and council, all working together for more than a year. More on Measure C can be found in the February edition of City Visions or at www.morgan-hill.ca.gov/
Four statewide propositions are also on the ballot.
• Proposition 56 would allow lawmakers to pass budgets with 55 percent majorities instead of the current two-third’ requirement. Tax increases could also be passed by the same 55 percent margin. Of the 50 states, only California, Arkansas and Rhode Island require a two-thirds majority to pass a state budget.
The proposition also would require state legislators to pass the budget by July 15 or forfeit their salaries until a budget is passed. Lowering the percentage to 55 percent would make this easier to achieve.
• Proposition 57 would authorize the governor to sell $15 billion in bonds to pay off the state’s huge debts. This has been compared, by critics, to paying for groceries and rent with a credit card. Gov. Schwarzenegger has said it is the only way to meet the state’s obligations in 2004-05 besides raising taxes, which he does not want to do. If the proposition passes and $15 billion is borrowed, the state will pay $1 billion a year for nine years to service the debt.
Morgan Hill’s City Council voted reluctantly to endorse Prop. 57 because, if it does not pass, the governor promises cuts to the state budget that every citizen will feel. Wall Street is said to be watching the vote on Prop. 57 carefully; if it fails, the state’s bond rating is expected to fall to “junk” status, that would raise the cost of any state borrowing. Props. 57 and 58 must pass together or they both fail.
• Proposition 58 would change the state constitution and require the state to balance the budget and, when revenues outpace expenditures, to stash the extra money in a “rainy day” fund against future crises.
County Supervisor Don Gage said Prop. 57/58 won’t help the county much.
“I know they (57/58) won’t do anything for us,” Gage said Monday. “If they don’t pass, the governor has little choice but to take money from the cities and counties. He could raise taxes but that couldn’t happen quick enough to help.”
Gage said that, without the $15 billion bond issue, Santa Clara County will have to make deep and direct cuts to the public safety departments. Those include, he said, the sheriff’s and fire departments, the public defender’s office, the department of corrections and parks and recreation.
“Personally,” Gage said, “I don’t know it’s the right way to do business but raising taxes will cripple the economy. I see a huge problem brewing.”
City Councilman Greg Sellers said that Prop. 56 won’t have either a positive or a negative effect on the city but Props. 57/58 would.
“I think Morgan Hill would still be able to survive,” Sellers said. “We could use our reserve but that would necessitate going to the public and talking about our financial future more directly.”
Sellers said that all possibilities are on the table.
“More and more communities are working on taking care of their own finances,” he said. “Cities are tired of sending money to Sacramento and not getting much in return.”
City Manager Ed Tewes was not optimistic with either outcome for the propositions.
“Even assuming they pass,” Tewes said, “the governor proposed shifting $1.3 billion from the cities and counties to help balance the state’s budget. This is not good.”
School Board Trustee Tom Kinoshita said the decisions that will be made by California voters are not easy ones.
“The bond issue (Prop 57) is difficult,” he said. “Prop 56 is important in lowering the bar in getting the budget passed. That could be helpful, as we obviously have difficulty operating without money from the state. But the bond issue is more difficult. I am personally torn, because while we need the $3 billion of those dollars to come into the current year, for health care, child care, deferring the debt into the next 20 years is something I have a difficult time with.”
Kinoshita said that public education will be better off than other state entities, because of the $2 billion in funding the governor proposes to put in education coffers.
“The deal he made with education, paying back $2 billion of the $4 billion will put education in good shape compared with heath care and child welfare,” he said. “That’s where the tug and pull for me is in Prop 57, that child welfare is so much dependent on the $3 billion that comes out of the bond.”
Local voters will also vote on two other ballot measures.
• Measure 2 would increase the toll on Bay Area bridges, except the Golden Gate Bridge, by $1. The money would be used to expand BART and ferry service, build a new transbay commuter rail crossing, improve the express bus network and the connections between BART, buses, ferries and rail.
• Measure A asks if an Advisory Board to oversee safety conditions at Santa Clara County’s Juvenile Hall should be established to include representatives from every group involved and to amend the county charter to allow the county executive to appoint, supervise and remove the chief probation officer.
