EDITOR: It is clear that California
’s revenue system is broken. The state’s continuing budget
crisis has created an opportunity for all of us to stop and look at
how essential programs and services are funded.
EDITOR:
It is clear that California’s revenue system is broken. The state’s continuing budget crisis has created an opportunity for all of us to stop and look at how essential programs and services are funded. The silver lining in the state’s awful fiscal crisis is that it can become an opportunity to stabilize local resources, not make them worse.
As one of its’top priorities, the state should still include revision of the state/local financing system to provide stable and predictable revenue sources so local jurisdictions can provide residents critical services. Further cuts in local revenues by the state will undoubtedly cause local agencies to cut back on important planning and service functions.
These are the very benefits that citizens in many recent polls believe most impact their daily lives, from parks and congestion relief to police and fire. Trying to budget at the whim of the state is no way to run a local government. Suitable solutions exist to stabilize funding and should be considered to make great communities happen.
• Share sales tax revenue
Communities should be allowed to work together to share and allocate tax revenue. Too often communities are pitted against one another, fighting to win that new “big box retailer,” or new automall. Sharing tax revenue makes more sense than fighting for them.
• Stabilize property tax share
Local governments should receive a more stable share of property taxes. Reliable services depend on a reliable source to pay for it. Predictable and reliable revenue will allow local governments to be fiscally responsible while creating livable communities.
Let locals swap Vehicle License Fee (VLF) revenue to the state in exchange for an equal amount property-tax revenue. Cities and counties bank on the VLF increase to provide essential services to their communities. A dollar-for-dollar “swap out” of property-tax revenue for VLF revenues would give local governments and the state more control of the revenues it generates. Right now, that’s not the case. By swapping out these sources, local dollars would be put to work in local communities, and services provided by the state would be funded by the taxes it levies.
• Reduce local dependence on sales taxes
California must also reduce the incentive of county governments to chase more sales tax dollars in order to fund health and social services that it is mandated to provided. It’s a slippery slope for most county governments; provide these services to the community, while the state controls how those services are provided and how much should be spent. Rural and suburban counties are forced to generate revenues to provide those services.
Chasing sales taxes leads to urban sprawl, and depleting open space and natural resources. The state should assume the responsibility for health and social service programs. This would allow counties to concentrate on land-use planning, natural resource protection and teaming with cities to build and grow great communities.
If the state wants cities and counties to encourage housing, provide services to that housing, reduce congestion, and provide livable, wonderful communities for people to live, it has to be willing to help them fund it for the long haul, not just on a whim.
The California Chapter of the American Planning Association (CCAPA) is a nonprofit, public interest and research organization representing over 5,000 practicing planners, elected and appointed officials, and concerned citizens involved with urban and rural planning issues in California.
Collette Morse,
President, CCAPA,
Sacramento
