While revenues have risen 20 percent in a decade, staffing has plummeted to cover rising employee costs. San Jose earlier this year laid off 66 police officers — the first such layoffs in its history, while a new police substation and several branch libraries sit empty for lack of staffing.
Minor things? One of the biggest cities in CA is slashing its police force. That’s a minor thing?
Total pension shortfalls for the state of CA and its cities amount to hundreds of billions of dollars. That’s a minor thing?
I have mild constipation this morning. That is an example of a “minor” thing. It’s probably because of what I ate last night, but I’ll blame it on “Wall Street,” because apparently every problem is caused by “them.”[/quote]
The economic recovery continues in the Golden State, and is even accelerating past the U.S. in many areas. Still, the failure of the additional $4 billion in revenues to materialize means that mid-year cuts may occur. That would affect K-12, community colleges, and the university systems in the state along with several other social services. Revenues continue to improve, but California is not out of the woods. There is still an imbalance between what’s being received and what we are spending. Ultimately, revenues will not be back to their pre-recession peaks for some time, which means that there are still many tough decisions ahead.
