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q.44 BUDGETfrompage6••a•• fee fee fee* 0 Action Days May 14.15 Stay tuned to the League for future updates, and be sure to attend the LOCAL Legislative Action Days in Sacramento May 14 —15. This is an especially critical 2-day session due to the fact that the Governor's May budget revision will be announced on the 14 and that the League will hold a Special Membership Meeting to discuss fiscal reform options on the 15 ". To sign up, go to www.cacities.org. For full.details on the Assembly April package, go to www.cacfties.org/budget, .................... CONTACT YOUR ASSEMBLY MEMBER TODAY ABOUT THE ASSEMBLY BUDGET PROPOSAL The legislature is faced with some very difficult budget choices, but the package released by the Speaker's Office again raids local revenues to balance the budget. City officials are strongly urged to contact their Assembly Member today and make the following points: • City General Revenues Should Not Be Raided. City officials recognize the Assembly budget plan is not as draconian as the one submitted by the Governor, but no budget plan should rely on city general tax revenues (property, sales, VLF, etc.) to balance the state budget. This one clearly does by taking $250 million in funds from cities when the state general fund (SGF) only allocates $226 million to cities in the current fiscal year. Under the Assembly plan, the SGF payments to cities will shrink to $188 million next fiscal year with the elimination of the booking fee reimbursement. . WRITING LETTERS ON BILLS The League wishes to thank all of those cities that send letters in response to requests for letters in Priority Focus. We want to remind those who write such letters of two vital format rules. 1. Always note the bill number and your city's position as a subject line, below the salutation, preferably in bold, e.g. "Subject: SB 123 (Author) — OPPOSE ". Do NOT bury the bill number and position in the text of the letter. The idea is to make it easy for the recipient to see what bill the letter references and what your city's position is. 2. One letter, one bill. Only include your city's position for one bill in a letter. Don't succumb to the urge to save paper and a tree by combining positions on numerous bills in one letter. Legislative offices file letters by bill number, so your position on the second through fifth bill may not get registered. • Plan Increases Net City Support of State by 53% in One Year. In the budget year (2003 -04), the ERAF property tax shift from cities will automatically grow an additional S48 trillion (totaling $827 millionlyear). After factoring in this growth and offsetting it with the remaining state general fund categorical and Prop. 172 sales tax payments to cities, the Assembly Democrat package would increase the "contribution" by cities to the SGF from $489 trillion in 2002 -03 to $747 million in 2003 -04. This is a $258 million (or 53 %) increase in one year. In addition, local governments are being asked to continue `loaning" the state over $769 million by deferring payments owed on state- funded mandates. • City Budgets Are Already Being Slashed Due to the Economic Downturn. The economic downturn has resulted in declines or no growth in many city general revenues. The result has been budget cuts or freezes and reductions in community services (give specific examples for your city). The state should not use city property tax, VLF or other general fund revenues to fund its budget. • Redevelopment and Public Safety Are Critical to the State. The proposed raid of $100 million in redevelopment funds and reduction of $38 million in booking fee funds strike at the heart of the ability of cities to create jobs, build affordable housing, and protect the public. These cuts should be opposed. Constitutional Protection. If, after all other options have been exhausted, the Legislature concludes it has no choice but to raid city general revenues, it should limit these to a one -time raid, and place a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would seriously restrict its ability to ever do so in the future. Visit the League's Official Web ite " "www.cacities.org PRIORITY FOCUS /PAGE 7