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<br /> .1 I . . I . ',. - <br /> 1. 8.., <br /> ',-- REPORT <br /> To the Honorable Mayor and City Council <br /> From the City Manager <br /> April 12,2004 <br /> Subject <br /> Resolution supporting the "Local Taxpayers and Public Safety Protection Act" for <br /> placement on the November 2, 2004 statewide ballot <br /> Recommendation <br /> Adopt a resolution supporting the "Local Taxpayers and Public Safety Protection Act: a <br /> measure sponsored by the League of California Cities, for the November 2, 2004 <br /> statewide ballot <br /> Background <br /> In recent years, the State legislature and the governor have approved laws that divert, use, or <br /> "shift" local tax revenues away from local governments or in some cases delay the payment of <br /> , local tax revenues to local governments. <br /> '- <br /> The State's trend toward further confiscation of local tax revenues (that local governments <br /> use to provide essential services such as police and fire protection, emergency and public <br /> health care, roads, parks, libraries, and water delivery), extends back for more than a decade. <br /> Since 1991, the State has taken more than $30 billion of local property taxes from cities, <br /> counties, and special districts. In just the last fiscal year, cities lost $800 million of local funds <br /> in this manner, and nearly $7 billion over the last 12 years. Remarkably, even in years of a <br /> State budget surplus, the State has continued to take these funds and use them to finance its <br /> constitutional funding obligation to education, thus allowing the State to increase State <br /> general fund spending for other State programs. <br /> Adding to the problem, in recent years the State has also shifted costs for State-sponsored <br /> programs and delayed constitutionally-required reimbursements to local governments for <br /> State-mandated programs and services. More specifically, in the last two years the State has <br /> "deferred" over $1 billion in such constitutionally-required reimbursements to local <br /> governments. <br /> It's abundantly clear that the State-local fiscal system is broken. With the lack of any effort by <br /> the legislature to address this worsening problem, the League of California Cities joined with <br /> the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) and the Califomia Special Districts <br /> Association (CSDA) to sponsor a ballot initiative entitled the "Local Taxpayers and Public <br /> I Safety Protection Act" <br /> ,-., <br />