Findings from an unprecedented three-year Grand Jury investigation into allegations of fiscal mismanagement and corruption in Victorville will be released Friday. The city is also under investigation by the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission, official sources say.

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/26/2012 01:19:33 PM PDT

Findings from a three-year grand jury investigation into allegations of fiscal mismanagement and corruption in Victorville are expected to be released Friday.

The grand jury concluded its unprecedented investigation in April, but Victorville City Manager Doug Robertson, who reviewed the report, said he signed a confidentiality agreement and cannot discuss any of the findings until its release to the public Friday.

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BY JEFF HORSEMAN
STAFF WRITER
jhorseman@pe.com

Published: 26 June 2012 04:36 PM

Changes to Riverside County’s public pension system should save $856 million over 10 years and after that, the system’s assets might cover its billions of dollars in liabilities, according to county officials.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, June 26, received an annual report from the Pension Advisory Review Committee, a 9-year-old panel consisting of Treasurer/Tax Collector Don Kent, finance chief Ed Corser and Human Resources Director Barbara Olivier.

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BY JIM MILLER
SACRAMENTO BUREAU
jmiller@PE.com

Published: 26 June 2012 06:59 PM

SACRAMENTO — A package of budget bills going before the Legislature would allow school districts to cut the school year to 160 days if voters reject higher tax levies this fall, a significant drop from the 175-day calendar now authorized.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised spending plan last month called for letting districts reduce the school year by a total of 15 additional days over two years, 2012-13 and 2013-14.

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Jim Steinberg, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/27/2012 12:07:27 AM PDT

RIALTO – The Rialto City Council on Tuesday voted to end the contentious issue of a whooping rate increase by voting 4-1 for its approval.

The issue, and a related agreement to outsource the city’s water and sewer operations to New Jersey-based American Water Works Co. Inc., have been a boiling point for many residents for over a year.

The council’s action will propel water and sewer rates 114.8 percent by 2016.

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Liset Marquez, Staff Writer
Created: 06/27/2012 12:22:34 AM PDT

ONTARIO – Despite the blow of losing its redevelopment agency, and an economy that won’t turn around, the City Council has approved a $396 million operating budget that includes the addition of a new $6 million emergency operations center and replacing 33 police vehicles and three fire engines.

But in order to do so, the city dipped into special reserves – $5.9 million this year – set aside to deal with economic downturn.

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Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
June 26, 2012

California voters heading to the polls in November will consider a package of proposed fixes for state governance that includes changes to the budget process.

The constitutional amendment, backed by the California Forward Issue Action Fund, would switch the state to a two-year, performance-based budgeting process and allow the governor to make cuts on his own in times of fiscal emergency. It would also enact legislative transparency measures and let local governments to change or opt out of certain laws and regulations.

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June 26th, 2012, 5:15 pm
Posted by BRIAN JOSEPH, Sacramento Correspondent

More legislative shenanigans appear to be in the works as state lawmakers prepare to vote on the final pieces of the state budget Wednesday.

One newly introduced budget trailer bill would create a statewide authority to negotiate union agreements for In-Home Supportive Services workers. The IHSS program is managed at the county level, where collective bargaining agreements are currently negotiated.

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Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
Published: Wednesday, Jun. 27, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Last Modified: Wednesday, Jun. 27, 2012 – 12:13 am

Gov. Jerry Brown knows that it’s difficult to persuade California voters to raise taxes, even those they may not pay themselves, as rejection of a new cigarette tax this month underscores.

In fact, polls indicate that his chances of winning approval of his multibillion-dollar sales and income tax measure in November are, at this moment, no better than 50-50.

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