Sacramento’s budget cuts need to be revised

Things are getting ugly in Sacramento. The state’s cash flow has hit a brick wall. To say we’re "in the red" is an understatement.

So Gov. Gray Davis is trying to cut corners. He slashed the state budget virtually everywhere—except for prisons because he doesn’t want to be a softie on crime. But he also doesn’t want to increase vehicle registration fees, which means cities and counties get the shaft.

Much funding for cities in the old days was generated from vehicle registration fees. When state legislators previously reduced the vehicle registration fees, the cities complained "What are we going to do for money?" And everyone in Sacramento "promised" that they’d make up the difference. (Elected officials are accustomed to making promises. Keeping them is another matter).

At first, the cheaper fees weren’t a problem because other tax revenue just kept rolling in, almost faster then the politicians could spend it. (One thing about it, when politicians have money, they spend it. "Saving for a rainy day" is apparently inoperative in Sacramento or Washington, D.C.)

So back to the problem; the biggest expense category for most cities and counties is law enforcement.

So we have a neat little mess; it’s full speed ahead on new prisons— but we need cops to arrest the bad guys. What’s the point of having all of those nice new prisons if we don’t have police officers to fill them with convicted felons?

The bottom line is that California’s cities and counties can cut a lot of fat, but pretty soon, the bone gets knifed. When budgets get slashed in law enforcement, we’re cutting deeper than the fat—and everyone loses with fewer cops—except criminals.

Sacramento shouldn’t make up a $35 billion state deficit by imposing excessive cutbacks on counties and cities.

There has to be a better answer.

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