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'Budget' Continued from Page 1... 8A Page 2 Big City Mayors Meet with State Lawmakers League President and Rolling Hills Estates Mayor Judy Mitchell joined mayors representing five of the state's largest cities, on Tuesday, May 26 in a series of meetings to oppose the borrowing of local government funds. In the meetings were Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, San Diego Mayor Jim Sanders, Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and a member of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums' staff. The mayors met with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Director of Finance Mike Genest, State Controller John Chiang, State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Senate Republican Leader Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta) and Assembly Republican Leader Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo ). The dominant theme of the meetings, as well as a mid-day press conference, was the opposition to borrowing local government revenues. The mayors shared with constitutional officers negative impacts to cities that this proposal would create. The mayors are planning to return to the Capitol next Wednesday to continue to lobby on behalf of cities. SaveYourCity.net Launches Also on Tuesday, the League launched www.SaveYourCitv.net as a forum for mayors, city council members and concerned members of the public to tell their stories about how their city will be impacted if the state borrows $2 billion in local property tax revenues. The site features video testimonials that are automatically sent to the Governor and the legislators of the person who submitted the video. In just a few days, hundreds of city officials, business and community leaders and the public have already submitted video testimony to lawmakers and the Governor through www.SaveYourCitv.net. City officials are encouraged to upload a video testimonial to the Web site. The League's regional public affairs directors can tape your message and help you upload it. Contact your regional publiC affairs director to take action! Additional Budget Proposals that Impact Local Governments The Governor's office released an additional list of proposed cuts on Tuesday, May 26 which are intended to replace the $5.6 billion revenue anticipation warrants in the original May Revise proposal. Most important to cities is the proposal to take $750 million from the local share of Highway Users Tax Account (HUTA) (gas tax) to pay for bond debt. bringing the total local share next year from $1.05 billion to $300 million. This would not be a loan, so cities would not be repaid in the future. Last week on Thursday, May 21, the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) released analysis of the Governor's May revise which also included additional budget suggestions. The LAO has proposed borrowing $1.03 billion in HUTA revenues in FY 2009-10 with repayment to happen in the next two-to-three years. League attorneys are also analyzing potential legalities associated with this proposal. Finally, LAO has proposed redirecting some local public safety program funding to the General Fund. These are just suggestions from the LAO, and so far neither the Governor nor the Legislature has included them in their own proposals. The Governor's Administration indicated on Tuesday in the Budget Conference Committee that additional proposals for cuts could be e~pected. The Legislature has asked that the cuts be released with details by the end of Friday. During a Budget Conference Committee hearing on Thursday, the League strongly opposed this proposal based upon the devastating impact that losing these funds would cause to local communities. In addition, the League testified how this proposal breaks faith with the intent of the voters when they voted for various state infrastructure bonds because it is likely that the voters would not have supported taking local revenues to pay for the bonds. The League's initial legal 2