Schwarzenegger seeks support of local officials.
Gov. Schwarzenegger came to town Monday to gather support among local officials for his budget reform ideas, but many wanted to talk instead about the 10% cuts proposed for the 2008-09 budget.
Schwarzenegger met with members of the Council of Fresno County Governments, which includes elected and law enforcement officials from the county and its 15 cities. The governor is scheduled to be in Riverside today.
"There were two different things going on in the room," Fresno County Supervisor Henry Perea said. "He was telling us what we already knew," that the state budget faces a huge shortfall, "but folks were saying, 'Don't cut my programs.' "
Schwarzenegger said his reform proposal will stabilize the budget without raising taxes.
The governor found support among the Fresno-area officials for his proposed Budget Stabilization Act, a constitutional amendment to reform the state budget process that he presented in his State of the State address in January. The amendment would need voter approval.
"The budget, it's broken, no doubt about it, and we're facing the consequences like never before," Fresno Mayor Alan Autry said in welcoming Schwarzenegger to Fresno.
Assembly Minority Leader Mike Villines, R-Clovis, and other community leaders said they are ready to support the governor's proposals.
But mayors of two small Fresno County towns are worried about the impact Schwarzenegger's proposed funding cuts will have on their cities in the 2008-09 budget year.
"I understand what the governor is trying to do, you have to do it," San Joaquin Mayor Amarpreet Dhaliwal said. "But how is it going to affect us? Maybe the state can have a different arrangement for smaller cities."
Sanger Mayor Mike Montelongo told Schwarzenegger that budget cuts will hurt crime-fighting efforts in his town.
"It's horrible, terrible" to cut funds for law enforcement and to fight gangs, Schwarzenegger said. "But you can't give people more money than you have, so I have to make the cuts."
The state is projecting a $14.5 billion shortfall, said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the state's Department of Finance in Sacramento.
The Legislature already has taken action that reduces the shortfall by $7 billion, Palmer said, and the governor's proposed 10% across-the-board cut is aimed at making up the remaining $7.5 billion in lost revenue.
The Legislature is looking at Schwarzenegger's proposed 2008-09 budget, which he could revise in May. The budget must be completed by June 15 and adopted by July 1.
Schwarzenegger wants to move up the July 1 deadline to give the state government more time to make needed cuts, which can take months. "You can't take money away from education if you've already hired teachers," he said.
California school districts have until March 15 each year to provide layoff notices to teachers and administrators for the coming school year.
Schwarzenegger's budget reform includes plans for a rainy-day fund that would put excess revenue in a savings account, but only when the state's revenue tops an historic 10-year average figure, Palmer said.
The money, called a revenue stabilization fund, could be withdrawn only when the state's revenue dips below the 10-year average.
Proposition 58, approved by voters in 2004, established a rainy day reserve, but that money can be used for other purposes, Palmer said.
The state's budget shortfall took state officials by surprise, Schwarzenegger said. "No one foresaw the subprime mortgage crisis and the housing market crisis," he said.
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Transcript of meeting in Fresno with Gov. Schwarzenegger
