IF IT SOUNDS GOOD, DO IT
Boom-time thinking got state and local governments into a lot of fiscal trouble. Here's an example reported by the San Jose Mercury News
Five years ago, a campaign to rescue cats, dogs and even pot-bellied pigs from a hasty death in animal shelters sailed through the Legislature. Now, the state is on the hook to pay at least $79 million for the housing and medical care of strays at a time when California faces a multibillion-dollar budget gap.
The animal shelter tab is just one of 85 state mandates on local government that exacerbate California's financial crisis. In flush times, the state picked up the cost for such mandates. This year, faced with a mounting pile of IOUs, Gov. Gray Davis and the Legislature are considering shelving dozens of these demands on cities and counties to try to close a $38.2 billion shortfall.
The costs generated by the requirement that animal shelters keep strays for two or three extra days -- ranging from computer software in Palo Alto to a new shelter in San Jose -- illustrate the hidden costs of state-mandated programs. How many and which programs are rolled back will be part of the debate when budget writers meet this week.
Sacramento already owes cities and counties $700 million for bills from mandates the state put off last year when California's budget woes first emerged. The Davis administration estimates the cost will swell to $876 million before next June. The legislative analyst and Republican leaders peg the number closer to $1.2 billion if the state continues to allow IOUs to local government to grow.
Local officials would welcome the outright repeal of many mandates instead of amassing IOUs. Suspending the requirements another year just means cities and counties continue to offer services without being paid.