“We’ve already made our cuts, and now they’re just taking more.” With these fighting words Santa Cruz Councilman Ryan Coonerty opened a public protest by local officials from across the Monterey Bay area in response to the State’s plan to dip into local funds to resolve its budget crisis. He went on to call the new budget a “Ponzi scheme.”
The City of Santa Cruz has already voted to join almost two hundred cities across California in suing the state if it takes their money. According to the proposed budget, the state would take $2 billion from local redevelopment funds and gas tax money, used to maintain roads. Another $2 billion would be borrowed from property tax revenues.
In the State Assembly, Anna Caballero, who represents much of Monterey Bay, expressed her personal frustration at the use of local government revenues to balance the state budget. “To date our efforts have not been successful,” she says. As a former mayor of Salinas, Caballero understands the impact it would have firsthand.
Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
