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9• h# REPUBLICANSfrom page 1• *fees *see •••••••••••••..•..... *Goo .* *Goo * ** To accomplish this goal, the proposal "ex- tends the budget planning time frame for one additional year", meaning that part of the deficit is rolled over to the next year. The plan also makes a number of substantial budget cuts, approximately $5 billion more than those proposed by the Governor. The press was quick to question the wisdom and authority to take such a Congress -like action of rolling the deficit over from one year to the next. Senator Brulte, spokesman for the Senate Repub- licans, argued that the Governor and Legislature have, in practice, rolled over the deficit from last year's budget into the current year and that the Senate Republican approach was just more straightforward about how to deal with the enor- mous budget deficit that confronts the state. "unallocated' cut to city revenues. In addition, the Republicans propose to eliminate about $1 billion in state mandates that the Governor proposed to defer. Other Important Proposals In addition to the local government proposals, a number of other elements are included in the Republican proposal and include: • Realignment Package Rejected. The Governor's budget included a realignment pack- age that shifted a number of state programs to counties and increased the sales tax, the income tax and the cigarette tax to fund the programs. It is an $8.2 billion tax increase. This entire proposal is rejected by the Republicans and is not included in their proposal. Proposals Affecting Local Government In the budget package, several components would have a direct effect on city budgets. The proposals with a beneficial impact on cities in- clude: • Constitutional Protection of Local Government Revenues. The package will in- clude a constitutional proposal to go on the ballot to "prevent the state from ever again taking local government money to help balance the state budget." • No VLF Cut. The proposal makes no cuts to local government Vehicle License Fee (VLF) revenues. • No RDA Cut. The proposal makes no cuts to redevelopment agency revenues (tax incre- ment). • No Williamson Act Cut. The Williamson Open Space Subvention Program is maintained at its current level with no cuts. • Local Government Cuts. The Republi- cans propose negotiations with local governments over a three -year, $500 million per year, • Proposition 42 Funding. The Governor's proposal suspends the $1.1 billion in transporta- tion funds going to local government from this program. The Senate Republicans accept the Governor's proposal, but would "defer" rather than "suspend" the program and propose to return the revenue in later years according to a negotiated payback plan. • Across the Board Cut to State Pro- grams. The proposal includes a 7% across -the- board cut to state general fund programs. This achieves a $5.1 billion savings. • Multi-year Budgeting and Spending Freeze. The Republicans propose a two -year budget coupled with a hard freeze in spending. This would require spending in 2004 -05 to be no more than spending in 2003 -04. • No Fees, Taxes or VLF. The Republican proposal assumes no fee increases; no tax increases, including no increase the VLF. If the fee increases in the Governor's budget occur; and revenue is secured from a renegotiation of Tribal - State Gaming Compacts; and, the Govern pulls the "VLF Trigger" increasing the VLF tax back to Continued on Page 5 PAGE 4 /PRIORITY FOCUS Visit the League's Official Web Site -- www.cacities.org