Cities, counties, schools seek state budget and fiscal reform 

With recession and the state budget crisis devastating their finances while demand for their services grows, leaders of organizations representing local governments throughout California convened the first meeting of the Cities, Counties and Schools Partnership State Budget and Fiscal Reform Task Force at CSBA headquarters last month.

“Numerous reform ideas, including proposals for overhauling the state budget process, calling a constitutional convention, reforming local taxation powers and overhauling the state revenue structure are emerging” throughout California, task force member and CSBA President Paula S. Campbell said after the meeting. “We understand the need for reform, and therefore we plan to lead the charge for this much needed systematic change.”

The task force of elected and appointed local government leaders will meet throughout 2009 to review and advise the three participating associations on proposed principles and policies regarding various reform efforts. The task force will also collaborate on the development of a possible coalition to advance and secure feasible reforms.

CSBA, the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties comprise the CCS Partnership, which was established in 1997 to promote greater communication and pursue common objectives. The organizations cooperate on the Safe Routes to Schools Program and have empanelled previous task forces on foster youth issues and childhood obesity.

The new task force grew out of an extraordinary joint meeting last summer of the leadership of the three organizations, noted Richard Gordon, a San Mateo County supervisor and CSAC’s immediate past president, who chaired last month’s meeting. A common theme at that meeting was the “Our relationship with the state government is a big problem” for all local governments, who rely on the state for much of their funding as a result of Proposition 13 and other fiscal structures, Gordon reminded the task force.

“The undercurrent that has always existed is that we are not masters of our own fate,” CSBA Executive Director Scott P. Plotkin agreed in remarks to the task force. Conversations he has with the other organizations’ executive directors often dwell on “how astonishingly disconnected” state government policies and priorities are from local needs, Plotkin added.

CSBA is well represented on the 28-member task force. Besides President Campbell, members include President-elect Frank Pugh, CSBA Region 16 Director Pat Kolhmeier, Region 8 Director Cindy Marks, Region 24 Delegate Assembly member Leighton Anderson and Ramona Unified School District board member Luan B. Rivera, a past president of CSBA and past chair of the Partnership. Several staff members are also on the panel, as is Davis W. Campbell, a former executive director of CSBA who remains president of its Governance Institute.

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Find more information about the CCS Partnership @ www.ccspartnership.org.