Sooner or later, the state Supreme Court must clear up a legal ambiguity it created over how many votes are needed to enact local tax increases. It should be sooner, because a new election year is nigh, dozens — and perhaps hundreds — of local tax measures are being drafted...
Border Is Overwhelmed, Resulting in Quick Release of Families
WASHINGTON — The number of migrant families and children entering the U.S. from Mexico is so high that Border Patrol is immediately releasing them instead of transferring them to the agency responsible for their release, forcing local governments to help coordinate their housing, meals and travel. "We need to work...
Assembly Democrats Want Lower Threshold to Raise Local Taxes
SACRAMENTO — California voters could decide in 2020 whether it should be easier for their local governments to raise taxes and issue bonds for affordable housing, road improvements and other public projects. A constitutional amendment proposed Wednesday would lower how much voter support communities need to raise money for infrastructure...
Walters: A Crackdown on Misusing Public Funds for Campaigns?
When Yuba County’s Board of Supervisors asked its voters to hike sales taxes last year, it wasn’t alone. Hundreds of California’s local governments, cities and counties primarily, were doing so, promising voters that the new revenues would be used to enhance popular services, such as parks, police and fire protection....
Walters: Should California Revive Redevelopment?
An anything-is-possible attitude enveloped post-World War II America, fueling ambitious undertakings such as a nationwide network of freeways, nuclear power so inexpensive that it wouldn’t need to be metered, and exploring outer space. It also spawned what was called “redevelopment,” a tool that would, it was said, clean up inner...
Walters: State Tax Reforms or State Tax Increases?
There is a substantial list of governance issues that former Gov. Jerry Brown said were important, but that he left on his desk for successor Gavin Newsom. For instance, although he and the Legislature enacted a very modest reform of public employee pensions, he repeatedly said it was only a...
Walters: Finally, a Crackdown on Misuse of Taxpayer Money
Although state law specifically prohibits public officials from using taxpayers’ money for political campaigning, they have been doing exactly that throughout California. Local governments hire “consultants” to poll voters on what tax and bond measures they would find acceptable, to draft those proposals accordingly and, finally, to run so-called “information”...
Walters: Locals Seek New Taxes Despite $4B Property Tax Surge
Local government officials throughout the state got some very good financial news when county tax assessors toted up changes in taxable property values for their 2018-19 budgets. The state’s uber-strong real estate market generated a 6.51 percent increase in those values, adding another $374 billion to the property tax rolls...