City managers will gather in Sacramento on Thursday to discuss damage control. Some say more residents are seeking salary information from city halls. The Legislature considers reforms as well.

By Sam Allen, Abby Sewell and Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times

July 29, 2010

The scandal over high salaries paid to Bell officials has city leaders throughout the state scrambling to limit the political damage.

City halls have seen an uptick in residents calling to find out what their local officials make ever since the story broke two weeks ago and prompted widespread public outrage.

Read the rest of this entry »

10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 28, 2010

By JAN SEARS
The Press-Enterprise

The Redlands City Council today will consider asking residents to approve a half-cent sales tax measure on the November ballot.

The council conducted a July 20 public hearing on the tax and agreed afterward, on a 4-1 vote, to put the measure on the ballot. The action requires a second vote, scheduled today because Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Bean will be unavailable for the next regular meeting Tuesday.

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10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Cassie MacDuff

People are understandably upset at high salaries paid to city officials, while municipal workers are being laid off and the public is being told it will have to settle for reduced services.

But lucrative pay is only half the story. When you add in the benefits public officials receive, the taxpayers are getting hit for even more than many people realize.

Read the rest of this entry »

L.A. NOW
Southern California — this just in

July 28, 2010 | 5:31 pm

Three highly paid administrators in Bell will not be permitted to draw their state pensions until the attorney general determines whether the city broke the law in awarding the hefty paychecks, according to an official with the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

“CalPERS is concerned about the situation, and our intention is to not [to] entertain applications for pensions from any of these people until the investigation is complete,” said Pat Macht, the agency’s external affairs director.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Jul. 29, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 1A

Furloughs are back.

Less a month after ending unpaid days off for more than 200,000 state workers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is bringing back a scaled-down version of the policy that will take effect on Sunday.

Read the rest of this entry »

10:15 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 27, 2010

By DAYNA STRAEHLEY
The Press-Enterprise

The Inland area’s laid-off teachers are cutting their household budgets and learning to tell their children no.

They have turned off their air conditioners and no longer can buy the things they used to take for granted.

Read the rest of this entry »

Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/27/2010 07:35:08 PM PDT

COLTON – At least two City Council members say they’d like to see the city send out requests seeking the exact costs to outsource for police and fire services, following the results of recently completed audits of both departments.

They would also like the city to contact surrounding jurisdictions to examine the viability of forming a joint powers agreement for fire services.

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Deal includes furlough, cuts
July 27, 2010 5:41 PM
Beau Yarbrough

HESPERIA • The Hesperia Unified School District and Hesperia Teachers Association have apparently resolved their differences and have reached a three-year agreement, officials said Tuesday.

The tentative agreement includes nine furlough days (an effective salary cut of almost 5 percent), 1 percent pay cut and 2 percent savings on other monetary benefits for teachers.

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10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 27, 2010

By JAN SEARS
The Press-Enterprise

Redlands could face a general fund shortfall of $23 million by 2014-15 if the economy doesn’t improve and no steps are taken to correct the city’s financial course.

The City Council heard the gloomy financial report last week, as City Manager Enrique Martinez urged them to adopt a multiyear approach to budgeting.

Read the rest of this entry »

By PE News
on July 27, 2010 9:44 AM

Riverside County supervisors this morning voted 4-0 to update the county’s vehicle policy.

The new rules require greater oversight — from detailed mileage reports to stricter controls on employees taking cars home at night.

Read the rest of this entry »

10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 27, 2010

By DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise

Riverside County’s November ballot is getting crowded.

Supervisors on Tuesday voted to place two competing pension measures before voters Nov. 2, as well as a proposal to increase the amount of money the county’s regional transportation commission can borrow.

Read the rest of this entry »

The two parties are staging stunts as the state’s unpaid bills pile up heading into the fifth week without a spending plan.

By Shane Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times

July 28, 2010

Reporting from Sacramento —

As California staggers toward the fifth week of the fiscal year without a spending plan, a month of closed-door talks in the Capitol have produced little but tension and finger-pointing. The calendar is flipping toward August with no resolution in sight.

Top officials don’t even publicly agree about what they agree upon. The two parties are staging stunts at the Capitol and trading barbs in dueling radio addresses, each side accusing the other of being dug in or disengaged, or both.

Read the rest of this entry »

L.A. NOW
Southern California — this just in

July 27, 2010 | 2:13 pm

A lawsuit filed Monday by a former Bell police officer makes a variety of serious allegations about city officials and suggests voter fraud in a 2009 election.

According to the lawsuit, filed by James Corcoran, off-duty police officers in Bell distributed absentee ballots in a 2009 municipal election and told would-be voters which candidates to support.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted on 26 July 2010
By Robert Cruickshank

As progressive activists across America organize to fight the looming “cat food commission” proposals to destroy the futures of working Americans by slashing Social Security benefits and raise the retirement age, Jerry Brown is now proposing to do the same here in California – in this case with cuts to public employee pensions:

Read the rest of this entry »

Number of days past constitutional deadline: 42

Status: Legislature on summer recess

10:00 PM PDT on Monday, July 26, 2010

By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterrise

San Bernardino County is no longer revealing its litigation costs in its civil lawsuit against former county officials accused of corruption.

County officials say they’re doing so to protect their legal strategy and that state law allows them to keep information about litigation records confidential until the matter is resolved.

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10:00 PM PDT on Monday, July 26, 2010

Cassie MacDuff

With the scandal over exorbitant pay for Bell officials, Inland residents may wonder if their city governments, too, have approved extravagant salaries unbeknownst to them.

A 2007 Press-Enterprise survey showed Inland city manager salaries doubled between 1996 and 2006. Some now top $200,000.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wes Woods II, Staff Writer
Created: 07/26/2010 09:31:00 PM PDT

LA VERNE – The City Council has approved a contract with Assistant City Manager Robert T. Russi to become the city manager, effective Aug. 6.

Russi will make $169,000 per year. He could make up to $195,000 by 2013 if he receives satisfactory evaluations from the council.

Read the rest of this entry »

July 26, 2010 3:52 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • One of the top forensic auditing firms in the country now has its own temporary office at City Hall, as an investigation into Victorville’s finances by the San Bernardino County Grand Jury moves forward.

The grand jury first began probing Victorville in spring 2009, interviewing a slew of city officials regarding troubled finances, reported handshake deals and more.

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By Ed Mendel

As CalPERS publicly said a decade ago that a major pension increase, now targeted for rollbacks, could be paid for with investment earnings rather than higher state costs, its actuaries made a startlingly accurate forecast of the impact if earnings fell short.

The actuaries said the annual state payment to CalPERS, $159 million in 1999, could soar to $3.954 billion in fiscal 2010-11 — a long-range forecast that scored a near bull’s-eye on the $3.888 billion state payment for the fiscal year that began this month.

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L.A. NOW
Southern California — this just in

July 26, 2010 | 4:55 pm

Bell Mayor Oscar Hernandez issued a news release Monday apologizing to residents for high salaries the city paid administrators and said he would serve the rest of his term without pay. He will not run for reelection.

“Since my first day as mayor, my priority has been to make Bell a city its residents can be proud to call home,” Hernandez said in his statement. “To the residents of this great city, I apologize that the council’s past decisions with regard to the indefensible administrative salaries have failed to meet that test.

Read the rest of this entry »

Arnold Schwarzenegger

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State

July 26, 2010 | 3:54 pm

Nearly four weeks into the fiscal year without a budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested Monday that California might have to wait until his successor is sworn in next year to get a spending plan — unless lawmakers give him everything he wants.

Schwarzenegger says the Legislature must curtail public pensions and change California’s taxation and budgeting systems before he will sign a budget this year, his last as governor. He leaves office in January.

Read the rest of this entry »

Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
July 26, 2010

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday he’s against reducing the state’s supermajority budget vote requirement to a majority threshold, essentially voicing his opposition to Proposition 25 on the November ballot.

The Republican governor spoke during a “budget roundtable” he convened at the offices of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. In response to a question on ballot initiatives, he first said taxes and fees should not be increased by a majority vote, a restriction the California Chamber of Commerce is attempting to strengthen in Proposition 26. He then said he’s not only against approving taxes and fees on a majority-vote basis, but also a state budget.

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Crime | Government | Medical marijuana | Education | Prop 8 | Traffic | Westside
L.A. NOW
Southern California — this just in

July 26, 2010 | 7:37 am

The embattled Bell City Council will meet Monday night to consider cutting council member pay, which is now considered significantly higher than that of other cities of the same size.

The move comes three days after the council announced the resignations of three top city administrators, including the city manager who was making nearly $800,000 a year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Brown

Today, Attorney General, oops! I mean democratic candidate for Governor Edmund “Jerry” Brown was campaigning on the Bell pension fiasco vis press conference.

Yes indeed. Another “high-profile” issue has handed Brown a platform to campaign from for “free”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Number of days past constitutional deadline: 41

Status: Legislature on summer recess

Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/25/2010 02:55:14 PM PDT

COLTON – Customers of the Colton Electric Utility pay more for electricity than customers of utilities owned by other surrounding cities, according to an audit of the city’s electric company.

Many residential customers and all commercial and industrial customers also pay more than customers of Southern California Edison, the investor-owned electricity provider that services most of the county.

Read the rest of this entry »

Council OKs reorganization of departments
Jesse B. Gill, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/25/2010 08:06:08 PM PDT

REDLANDS – The City Council has released a list detailing the total number of jobs it eliminated through recent budget cuts and the reorganizations of city departments necessary after the cuts were made.

The council unanimously approved a resolution making the reorganizations official by adding the cost for the remaining positions into the city budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

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City seeking unspecified cuts from contracts
Jesse B. Gill, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/25/2010 08:06:43 PM PDT

REDLANDS – Although the City Council has said it wants contract concessions from the unions representing city employees, union leaders say it hasn’t specified what is needed.

A council subcommittee manned by Jon Harrison and Mick Gallagher is conducting informal discussions with both unions about items in their employment contracts they could give up to save the city money. The discussions come after a budget season in which the council eliminated 47 full-time city jobs and was still left with a deficit of $877,500.

Read the rest of this entry »

Published: Monday, Jul. 26, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

When California faced a major budget crisis in the early 1990s, thanks to what was then the worst recession since the Great Depression, a Republican governor – Pete Wilson – and the Legislature enacted a big, albeit temporary, increase in state taxes.

Despite the boost in sales and income taxes, however, state revenue continued to decline as the recession deepened, touching off years of political debate over causes and effects.

Read the rest of this entry »

Brinker

Tobin Brinker
Posted: 07/24/2010 07:18:12 PM PDT

We have all seen tightrope walkers high above the crowd on a narrow rope balancing precariously as winds buffet them. It makes for riveting entertainment, as the viewer waits to see if the tightrope walker makes it successfully across or if he falls.

San Bernardino’s elected officials are attempting to walk a budget tightrope. We are buffeted on all sides by individuals with ideological biases. Some say “NO TAXES” and others say “NO CUTS.” Citizens groups and employee unions are lobbying the elected officials and mobilizing with letters to the editor.

Read the rest of this entry »

Schools pact set

Wes Woods II, Staff Writer
Created: 07/24/2010 07:08:33 AM PDT

CLAREMONT – The Claremont Unified School District and the Claremont Faculty Association on Friday reached a contract agreement, according to an union official.

The three-year agreement, which is retroactive to the 2009-10 school year, includes an $800,000 contribution that district officials said they needed from the union.

Read the rest of this entry »

Number of days past constitutional deadline: 39

Status: Legislature on summer recess

Friday, July 23, 2010 – 03:47 pm
Updated: Saturday, July 24, 2010 – 09:25 am

Sources tell InlandPolitics that San Bernardino County has taken attorney-client privilege to a new level.

In San Bernardino County only, the amount of taxpayer money spent on outside counsel is privileged.

Read the rest of this entry »

10:00 PM PDT on Friday, July 23, 2010

By DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise

Riverside County has cut its fleet of vehicles by nearly 200 over the past year, and new policies up for consideration Tuesday are intended to further reduce the number.

But county officials do not have a target they hope to reach as they work to trim costs and miles driven by employees, county spokesman Ray Smith said.

Read the rest of this entry »

10:00 PM PDT on Friday, July 23, 2010

Cassie MacDuff

Several bombshells from Redlands of late:

Council members are irked that the city manager and city attorney got salary increases unwittingly approved by the council.

City Manager Enrique Martinez acknowledged he has a consultant studying the city’s refuse operation, raising suspicions he’ll try to privatize it as he did in Colton in the 1990s.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bell officials step down
July 23, 2010 3:16 PM
FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

BELL (AP) • The city manager, assistant city manager and police chief of this small, poverty-plagued suburb of Los Angeles stepped down following a public outcry over their salaries, which total more than $1.6 million a year.

Robert Rizzo, who served as Hesperia’s city manager from 1988 to 1992, was the highest paid Bell employee at $787,637 a year — nearly twice the pay of President Barack Obama. Census figures for 2008 showed about 17 percent of the city’s less than 40,000 residents live in poverty.

Read the rest of this entry »

Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/23/2010 06:50:33 PM PDT

COLTON – The city could save as much as $8.2 million by eliminating its police and fire departments and contracting with outside agencies, according to audits of the departments which were released Friday.

The firm estimates between $2.3 million and $8.2 million would be saved if the City Council elected to contract for public safety services or form a joint agreement with other cities in the area.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wes Woods II, Staff Writer
Created: 07/23/2010 06:08:43 PM PDT

The Claremont Unified School District has approved the placement of a $95 million bond measure on the Nov. 2 election ballot.

School district officials said the bond was necessary to update aging classroom facilities and improve classroom technology.

Read the rest of this entry »

Trend in the Region
Property Values Dip for Second Year
Friday, July 23, 2010

By Rich Saskal

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Assessed property values in California are likely to decline for the second year running, according to a Bond Buyer review of data from the state’s larger counties.

Even though the state’s tax assessment system has the effect of muting the volatility of property assessments, 11 of the state’s 12 largest counties experienced a decline in their property tax roll this year.

Read the rest of this entry »

L.A. NOW
Southern California — this just in

July 23, 2010 | 12:33 am

Bell’s top administrators, whose hefty salaries have stirred public outrage and calls for investigations, agreed to resign Thursday night during a closed-door City Hall meeting.

City Manager Robert Rizzo, Police Chief Randy Adams and Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia will not receive severance packages. Rizzo will step down at the end of August and Spaccia will leave at the end of September. Adams will also leave at the end of August, after completing an evaluation of the Police Department.

Read the rest of this entry »

Number of days past constitutional deadline: 38

Status: Legislature on summer recess

By PE Politics
on July 23, 2010 7:48 AM

As reported this morning by Jack Katzanek, the House on Thursday approved legislation to extend benefits for the nation’s jobless.

The 272-152 vote went mostly along party lines, with just 10 Democrats voting against the bill and 31 Republicans voting for it. Among those were Inland Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, whose eastern Riverside County district has been hit about as hard as anywhere in the country by the economic downturn.

Read the rest of this entry »

California Watch
A Project of the Center for Investigative Reporting
Public Safety

California WatchBlog

July 23, 2010 | Ryan Gabrielson

During normal times, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department hears from two to three small towns a year wondering how much taxpayer money they’d save by hiring deputies to replace their own police officers.

These are not normal times.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Jeff Gottlieb Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

July 22, 2010 | 3:59 p.m.

The highly paid members of the Bell City Council were able to exempt themselves from state salary limits through a little-noticed city ballot measure during a special election that attracted fewer than 400 voters.

Council members in Bell earn nearly $100,000 – a salary that has prompted an inquiry by the Los Angeles County district attorney. A state law enacted in 2005 limits the pay of council members in “general law” cities, a reform prompted by the high salaries that leaders in the neighboring city of South Gate bestowed on themselves.

Read the rest of this entry »

Number of days past constitutional deadline: 37

Status: Legislature on summer recess



Cost-saving measure

47 to shift to county’s jails
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/21/2010 08:03:25 PM PDT

Come July 31, 47 sheriff’s deputies from stations across San Bernardino County will be transferring from their respective stations to the county’s four detention centers to eliminate about $8 million in overtime at the jails.

To make up for the loss, another 44 deputies will be transferring from their respective stations to backfill the vacancies left at the other stations from the deputies transferring to the jails.

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Staff and Wire Reports
Posted: 07/21/2010 05:38:42 PM PDT

Thousands of Inland Empire residents whose unemployment benefits have run out could start getting money again as a federal extension of those benefits was approved Wednesday evening in the Senate.

The House of Representatives is expected to approve the measure today. The Senate voted 59-39 to approve the extension of unemployment benefits after a months-long stalemate over how those benefits should be paid for.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jesse B. Gill, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/21/2010 01:05:07 PM PDT

Redlands voters will have the final say in November on a half-cent sales tax measure the City Council is counting on to help balance the 2010-11 fiscal year budget.

The council voted 4-1 to place the measure on the Nov. 2 ballot. Councilman Mick Gallagher was the lone dissenter. The tax measure needed four of the five council members to approve it to place it on the ballot.

Read the rest of this entry »

10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 21, 2010

By ALICIA ROBINSON
The Press-Enterprise

After holding off in June, Riverside officials now are eyeing the November ballot for a measure that would increase the tax hotel visitors pay by two percentage points.

The City Council’s finance committee, made up of council members Nancy Hart, Paul Davis and Mike Gardner, on Wednesday recommended that the full council place the hotel bed tax increase, which would push it up to 13 percent, on the fall ballot.

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Increase would fund fire, police, roads
July 21, 2010 9:03 AM
Beau Yarbrough

HESPERIA • The largest crowd at a Hesperia City Council meeting in recent memory showed up Tuesday with a single message: “Don’t hike sales taxes.”

Approximately 100 residents attended the City Council meeting. It was their first chance to speak directly to the City Council about a proposed halfcent hike to the city’s current 8.75 percent sales tax.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Ed Mendel

Although you may not find one in California, there is a place where officials get credit for handling public employee pensions, instead of a barrage of criticism about unaffordable debt.

It’s Wisconsin, a state with a tradition of good government and high taxes.

Read the rest of this entry »

When he steps down, City Manager Robert Rizzo will get at least $600,000 a year in pension checks, making him the highest-paid retiree in the state. The police chief will get more than $411,000.

By Catherine Saillant and Jeff Gottlieb, Los Angeles Times

July 22, 2010

Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo, whose nearly $800,000-a-year salary has ignited community protests and calls for his resignation, will become the highest-paid retiree in California’s pension system when he steps down.

Rizzo, whose forced-resignation could come as early as Thursday, would be entitled to a pension of at least $600,000 a year for the rest of his life, according to retirement calculations made by The Times and reviewed by pension experts.

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Number of days past constitutional deadline: 36

Status: Legislature on summer recess

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 – 07:42 am

The other San Bernardino County budget shoe dropped yesterday in an op-ed by County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux published in The Sun / Inland Valley Daily Bulletin newspapers.

The last paragraph sends the key message:

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10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 20, 2010

By DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
The Press-Enterprise

The San Bernardino City Council has armed the city manager with a new weapon in wage negotiations with the police officers union: the threat of furloughs.

City Manager Charles McNeely told the council this week that talks with the San Bernardino Police Officers Association have dragged on longer than expected and asked for authority to impose unpaid furloughs on officers.

Read the rest of this entry »

10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 20, 2010

By PAUL LAROCCO
The Press-Enterprise

Three years ago, San Bernardino police sought to improve response times to emergency calls, which then averaged more than six minutes.

They appeared to be successful. By the end of 2008, department statistics showed that officers were being sent to such incidents in just over four minutes, or 34 percent faster.

Read the rest of this entry »

James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Created: 07/20/2010 05:39:24 PM PDT

San Bernardino County leaders are applauding a new law that will allow the county to have more than one grand jury, but it’s not clear if or when the law might be used.

The law, signed last week by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, gives the county’s presiding judge the ability to create a second civil grand jury that would be able to investigate government entities in the county.

Read the rest of this entry »

Devereaux

Gregory C. Devereaux
Created: 07/19/2010 07:29:13 PM PDT

On June 28, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors approved a balanced budget for the fiscal year that began on July1. With the help of employee-approved salary deferrals, the use of reserves to create ongoing funding, and departmental budget reductions, the board was able to close an $89.4 million shortfall. The new budget eliminates 529 county positions, 85 of them currently filled.

As difficult as it might have been to balance this year’s budget, even greater fiscal challenges lie ahead. Due to a continuing decline in property tax revenues as well as increased costs, $133 million in deficits are projected for the next four years, including a $48 million deficit for the fiscal year that begins less than 12 short months from now.

Read the rest of this entry »

The city manager, his assistant and the police chief will be asked to step down and give up their high salaries. City Council members may reduce their own pay too.

By Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times

July 21, 2010

Bell City Council members are seeking the resignations of the city manager and two other top officials amid growing public outcry over salaries that appear to be among the highest in the nation, according to three sources close to the discussions.

The embattled council directed its attorney to immediately begin negotiating with the three.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jesse B. Gill, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/20/2010 08:32:04 PM PDT

REDLANDS – The City Council took the advice of City Manager N. Enrique Martinez and will try to balance the General Fund budget five fiscal years in advance.

Martinez suggested the council direct city staff to prepare a long-range plan to balance the next five budgets instead of focusing on one at a time.

Read the rest of this entry »

11:31 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 20, 2010

By SANDRA STOKLEY
The Press-Enterprise

Hard on the heels of Eastvale’s successful incorporation drive, its closest and much older neighbor will make its own case for cityhood Thursday before Riverside’s boundary-setting agency.

Members of the Jurupa Valley Incorporation Research Committee say that unlike the 1992 election, when voters overwhelmingly rebuffed cityhood, this time residents are united behind the concept of local control.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Wednesday, Jul. 21, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

The state’s perpetual budget crisis makes headlines, but California’s 5,000 units of local government – counties, cities and school, fire, park and water districts – also are feeling financial pain unseen since the Great Depression.

Stagnant or declining revenues – property and sales taxes and state aid – and unsustainable, sometimes improper, spending have brought many local entities to the brink of insolvency.

Read the rest of this entry »

Number of days past constitutional deadline: 35

Status: Legislature on summer recess

Council move puts pressure on contract talks
Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/19/2010 07:49:44 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO – The City Council decided by a single vote Monday to give the city manager authority to impose furloughs on police officers if city negotiators and the police union fail to reach a deal on pay concessions.

City Manager Charles McNeely has no immediate plans to force officers to take time off, he said. He presented the issue diplomatically, but the vote is essentially a decision to play hardball during what may be the closing rounds of negotiations.

Read the rest of this entry »

Overtime reduction creates backlog in evidence testing
Wes Woods II, Staff Writer
Created: 07/19/2010 06:19:48 PM PDT

Budget cuts that reduced overtime have slowed the analysis of narcotics evidence by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and the police in Pomona and La Verne have noticed the effects.

“Routine narcotics evidence that has been sent to the crime lab has gone from taking a week to taking two to three weeks or sometimes more to get it back,” said Pomona police Sgt. Rob Baker on Monday.

Read the rest of this entry »

Number of days past constitutional deadline: 34

Status: Legislature out on summer recess



Some car pool lanes would be switched
Mediha Fejzagic DiMartino, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/18/2010 09:15:59 AM PDT

For Ruben Alvarez one of the perks of having kids is being able to cruise in the carpool lane.

But if a San Bernardino County transportation planning agency follows through with its plan to ease traffic congestion on local freeways, Alvarez’ free ride in the diamond lane may soon be over.

Read the rest of this entry »

Redlands group says City Council is wasting money
Jesse B. Gill, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/18/2010 09:48:58 PM PDT

REDLANDS – Representative of the Redlands Tea Party Patriots plan to attend the City Council meeting Tuesday to speak out against a tax measure.

Tea Party spokeswoman Sandy Ziegler said the council wants to pass the tax to make up for wasted money and that members of the group plan to urge the council to live within its means.

Read the rest of this entry »

City Council to focus on deficit Tuesday
Jesse B. Gill, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/18/2010 08:59:58 PM PDT

REDLANDS – The city’s budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year still isn’t balanced, and the City Council will meet Tuesday to discuss how to bridge the remaining deficit.

The council approved an unbalanced budget June 22. A deficit of $877,500 remained after the council cut 47 full-time jobs and assumed that voters will approve a proposed sales tax measure that could generate $462,500 for the General Fund.

Read the rest of this entry »

State Controller John Chiang

They say it should not be as hard as the controller says it is to reprogram the computer system to cut state employees’ pay to the minimum wage as Schwarzenegger has demanded while there is no budget.

By Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times

July 19, 2010

Reporting from Sacramento —

For the last seven years, demands that state worker pay be reduced when California has no budget have been met with a consistent response from union-friendly state controllers: Their computer can’t do the math.

Read the rest of this entry »

Saddled with policies adopted when times were good, many face dire consequences now. San Diego is a case in point.

July 18, 2010|By Tony Perry and Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from San Diego and Sacramento — After losing billions of dollars in recession-wracked investments, public pension funds in California are seeking to pare back the historically generous retirement benefits they provide to government workers, but not without push-back from unions.

About 70 local governments, stretching from Redding to Long Beach, are coming up with new, stingier formulas for calculating pension benefits for future hires.

Read the rest of this entry »

Number of days past constitutional deadline: 33

Status: Legislature out on summer recess



10:52 PM PDT on Saturday, July 17, 2010

By ERIN WALDNER
The Press-Enterprise

Due to budget cuts, the Yucaipa-Calimesa school district will not provide transportation to and from school when classes resume in August.

The exception is busing for special education students.

Read the rest of this entry »

Schwarzenegger

By Kevin Yamamura and Jon Ortiz
kyamamura@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Jul. 18, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 1A

Five years ago, the state correctional officers’ union paraded a mobile billboard around the Capitol bearing an unflattering picture of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in his bathing suit.

That demonstration seems mild compared to the frustration state employees feel this year toward the Republican governor. Schwarzenegger has incurred the wrath of rank-and-file employees through efforts to reduce pay and benefits, particularly his latest push to impose minimum wage.

Read the rest of this entry »

10:00 PM PDT on Friday, July 16, 2010

By IMRAN GHORI and DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise

San Bernardino County pays the highest car allowance of any Southern California county and provides it to the most employees, according to a survey released this week.

The $1,123-a-month stipend, provided to officials and staff members who use their own vehicles instead of county-owned cars, is almost twice as much as in other nearby counties.

Read the rest of this entry »

Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/16/2010 05:51:37 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO – The City Council may impose police officer furloughs if administrators are unable to reach a concessions deal with the rank-and-file by Monday.

“We put that item on the agenda as a placeholder in case we don’t reach an agreement,” city spokeswoman Heather Gray said.

The looming threat of furloughs is the latest development in a negotiations process that has frustrated San Bernardino Police Officers Association leadership.

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Monica Rodriguez, Staff Writer
Created: 07/16/2010 01:14:36 PM PDT

POMONA – A decision on whether to place a parcel tax measure before voters in the Pomona Unified School District in November has been postponed for at least two weeks.

The item was pulled off Wednesday’s Board of Education agenda after a district lawyer determined a public hearing on the item had not been properly noticed, Superintendent Richard Martinez said.

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Number of days past constitutional deadline: 31

Status: Legislature out on summer recess





Number of days past constitutional deadline: 30

Status: Legislature out on summer vacation



A Project of the Center for Investigative Reporting
Money and Politics
California WatchBlog

July 15, 2010 | Lance Williams

To conceal the fearsome prospective impact of California’s pension bomb from the taxpayers, bureaucrats sometimes play hide the ball.

When they do, it’s up to open-government advocates to drag them into court and make them do the right thing.

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July 14, 2010 2:57 PM
Natasha Lindstrom

ADELANTO • San Bernardino County supervisors on Tuesday approved agreements that help secure $100 million from the state to triple the capacity of Adelanto Detention Center.

Clinching the $100 million hinged on the county’s commitment to sell 20 acres near the Apple Valley Juvenile Detention Facility for the construction of a state prison reentry facility.

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San Bernardino County officials have taken a new approach at inquiries into costs associated with civil litigation related to alleged time card fraud in the Assessors operation under Bill Postmus.

The new approach? We’re not going to tell you.

Yes, that’s right. An official request for an updated legal cost figure was met with the following response. The cost of taxpayer-sponsored litigation is now confidential!

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10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 13, 2010

The Press-Enterprise

The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors approved the hiring of a new chief of staff for Board Chairman Gary Ovitt on Tuesday.

Larry Enriquez replaces Mark Kirk as Ovitt’s top aide. Kirk moved over to the county administrative staff as part of a board projects team created this month.

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***Editor’s Note: San Bernardino County automobile allowance is $1,400 per month in lieu of county-provided vehicle.

By PE Politics
on July 13, 2010 3:34 PM

Riverside County supervisors balked today at increasing the car allowance provided to elected officials and top executives, saying it wasn’t a wise move given the county’s fiscal difficulties.

Instead, the car stipend will remain at $550 per month, rather than jump to $1,000 for elected officials and $850 for department administrators and other eligible executives.

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July 13, 2010 9:27 AM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • One council member had no idea the city’s EB-5 investor program was being questioned by federal officials until reading about it in Sunday’s Press Dispatch, reflecting a communication gap she’s been raising concerns about for the last two years.

“I’m tired of it,” Councilwoman JoAnn Almond said by phone Monday, with a promise from City Manager Jim Cox when he returned to Victorville in January 2009 that all five members would always get the same information.

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Layoffs, hiring freezes recommended to reduce projected $130M budget gap
Erica Felci • The Desert Sun • July 13, 2010

Riverside County may have to eliminate another 500 jobs this fiscal year to help close its budget gap.

Close to 1,000 jobs were already lost through early retirements, layoffs, attrition and other means, county Executive Officer Bill Luna said Monday.

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Number of days past constitutional deadline: 28

10:00 PM PDT on Monday, July 12, 2010

The Press-Enterprise

The city of Redlands has received its seventh consecutive certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada for its 2008-09 annual financial report.

The association established the honor in 1945 to encourage state and local governments to prepare comprehensive annual financial reports in the spirit of full disclosure, city officials said in a statement.

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Number of days past constitutional deadline: 27

By Kevin Yamamura
kyamamura@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jul. 12, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 1A

Facing a dismal budget crisis last year, California relied on a federal lifeline of stimulus dollars. The cash infusion staved off the bleakest of cuts to Medi-Cal patients, welfare recipients and students.

But that money is beginning to run dry, leaving California grappling with whether to replace it by raising taxes or institute the severe cuts the state avoided last year.

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By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 12, 2010

BOSTON — The co-chairmen of President Obama’s debt and deficit commission offered an ominous assessment of the nation’s fiscal future here Sunday, calling current budgetary trends a cancer “that will destroy the country from within” unless checked by tough action in Washington.

The two leaders — former Republican senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming and Erskine Bowles, White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton — sought to build support for the work of the commission, whose recommendations due later this year are likely to spark a fierce debate in Congress.

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By Ed Mendel

An advocate of a new bonds-based strategy to stabilize troubled public pension funds says the change would be costly and take years.

The CalSTRS board last week heard what one panelist called a “raging debate” in professional circles: Do public pension funds need to be radically restructured to survive.

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Editor’s Note: When I first read this quote, what came to mind was how can anyone have their head this far up someone’s rear-end?

Then I saw who said it.

“He clearly goes down as the biggest political reformer in modern history of California,” said Jim Brulte, a Republican and a former lawmaker who has not always agreed with the governor.

Illustration by John Ritter, photograph by Monica Almeida/The New York Times

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
Published: July 9, 2010

LOS ANGELES — If the mark of a real independent is lack of friends, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the quintessential nonpartisan in American politics right now.

His approval rating has not risen above 30 percent since May 2009. California remains in deep fiscal distress. He is despised by the state’s workers (whose pay he cut), Democrats (who loathe his aversion to new taxes and his desire to cut entitlements) and Republicans (who wish those respective aversions and desires were stronger), as well as college students, public school parents and people who hate the smell of cigars.

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Number of days past constitutional deadline: 26



John “JP” Pomierski

Cloud over Upland

Mayor’s future is on the line
Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 07/10/2010 07:08:31 AM PDT

UPLAND – Mayor John “JP” Pomierski was elected by Upland voters to save the city from the verge of bankruptcy.

The citizens trusted his abilities as an Upland businessman to lead them to the financial stability the city enjoys now, 10 years later.

But his own business dealings have come under scrutiny by federal investigators. A June 10 raid by FBI and IRS agents on Pomierski’s home, City Hall and two local businesses has left residents questioning the integrity of the mayor who helped pull the city out of its fiscal darkness, and wondering what his future might be.

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10:00 PM PDT on Saturday, July 10, 2010

By DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
The Press-Enterprise

The San Bernardino City Council has approved a measure paving the way for the Fire Department to use federal grant funds to pay the salaries and benefits of 12 firefighters for the next two years.

A $2.7 million grant obtained by the Fire Department from the Homeland Security Department’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response program could help the city cope with a $24 million shortfall in its budget for the current year.

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Victorville stands by airport operations
July 10, 2010 12:04 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The runway at Southern California Logistics Airport has perhaps never been busier, with Boeing testing high-profile jumbo jets and a number of major airlines sending grounded planes to Victorville for repainting or temporary storage.

But even as traffic picks up, staffing levels are going down, with the airport’s top two aviation professionals gone and their positions unfilled.

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Number of days past constitutional deadline: 25

San Bernardino County may have identified a source for potentially significant savings.

Significant as in $2 million per year, according to sources. A nice amount especially in light of budget constraints.

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Posted: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 8:16 pm | Updated: 11:43 am, Tue Jul 6, 2010.

Charlie Walters, the assistant sheriff in charge of the jails on the 2006 night that John Chamberlain was killed by inmates, is now the county’s second highest paid pensioner after opting for retirement in 2008 in the wake of a criminal grand jury probe, prosecutions and firings in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

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Mediha Fejzagic DiMartino, Staff Writer
Created: 07/09/2010 03:20:00 PM PDT

As he listened to pension reform talks, David Sanchez’ thoughts wandered off to 2005, when a fellow correctional officer Manuel Gonzalez was stabbed to death by an inmate at the California Institution for Men in Chino.

“Manny will never get his pension,” Sanchez said. “Benefits should commensurate the danger we face. It’s not a desk job.”

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Staff Report
Posted: 07/09/2010 08:14:19 PM PDT

San Bernardino Professional Firefighters reported Friday that City Hall has rejected a salary concessions offer.

Firefighters offered givebacks worth $1.6 million from their salaries and $500,000 in benefits, union president Scott Moss said.

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Number of days past constitutional deadline: 24

By Dan Smith
smith@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Jul. 9, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Perhaps fed up with perennial delays over California’s state budget, two-thirds of voters are ready to let lawmakers approve the spending plan with a majority vote, according to a new Field Poll.

The budget measure, Proposition 25 on the Nov. 2 ballot, would remove the 48-year-old requirement that lawmakers approve each year’s budget bill with a two-thirds vote. In most years, the provision requires at least a few members of the minority party to agree to the plan, and has led to summerlong stalemates between Democrats and Republicans.

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Share
By Susan Ferriss
sferriss@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Jul. 9, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 4A

With former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown at his side, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a new demand Thursday that a specific change in state worker pensions be made before he signs off on a budget.

At a minimum, the governor said he wants legislators to roll back current pension terms to those that existed before 1999 legislation created more generous rules.

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Number of days past constitutional deadline: 23

10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 7, 2010

By DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
The Press-Enterprise

A divided San Bernardino City Council has voted to advance plans to put a half-cent sales tax increase on the November ballot and to hire a consultant to help “educate” voters on the need for its passage.

In a 4-3 vote Tuesday evening, the council ordered City Manager Charles McNeely to prepare ballot documents for final council approval. Council members Jason Desjardins, Chas Kelley and Wendy McCammack were opposed.

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July 07, 2010 5:32 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • Even as the city starts this fiscal year with a balanced budget, officials are advising that Victorville isn’t out of the woods yet.

“I want to caution the council, we are using $4.7 million in reserves in order to balance this budget,” Deputy City Manager Doug Robertson said during the city’s recent budget workshop. “So in essence between now and June 30 of next year we need to see revenue increases and expenditure decreases that equal $4.7 million or we’ll have to make further cuts of some type.”

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Jesse B. Gill, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/07/2010 06:30:15 PM PDT

REDLANDS – With a filing deadline fast approaching, the City Council will likely get a look at a new half-cent sales tax measure during its next meeting.

Councilman Pete Aguilar gave an update this week on the status of the proposed measure. The City Council will review a draft of the measure at its July 20 meeting.

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James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/07/2010 05:23:25 PM PDT

As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and State Controller John Chiang tussle over whether state workers should take a pay cut until the Legislature approves a budget, lawmakers are considering a bill that would make sure those workers get their full pay whether or not a budget passes.

The new fiscal year started July 1, but the legislature has yet to pass a new budget. Because of that budget impasse, Schwarzenegger last week ordered Chiang to cut the wages of about 200,000 state employees to the minimum wage – $7.25 per hour. Chiang has refused the order, but might have to comply.

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By Joel Fox
Editor of Fox & Hounds and President of the Small Business Action Committee
Wed, July 7th, 2010

Despite Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s success in negotiating some concessions from state unions on the pension front, heated action in the battle for pension reform is happening in California’s cities.

Yesterday, initiative petition signatures were filed in San Francisco to require thousands of city employees to contribute 9% of their salaries towards their pensions and health care plans. Currently, many (but not all) contribute nothing. The initiative would also boost public safety workers contributions to 10% of salaries. Police and firefighters just saw their contributions increased to 9% by voters in the June election.

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Number of days past constitutional deadline: 22

Ideas for impound yard, charter also inch along
Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/06/2010 10:00:47 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO – The City Council on Tuesday moved toward higher sales taxes and a renewal of last year’s effort to create a city-run impound yard.

Both issues were decided by narrow votes. In another closely divided vote, the council approved language for a City Charter amendment that would give it and the mayor the power to appoint three key city positions.

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10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 6, 2010

By JAN SEARS
The Press-Enterprise

The Redlands City Council wrapped up a loose end hanging from the 2010-11 budget with an agreement Tuesday on how to cover the inability of one city fund to pay a nearly $1 million debt.

The public facilities fund, which collects revenue from development impact fees, is obliged each year to pay half of a nearly $2 million bond debt. The bonds were issued in the 1980s to build a corporate yard, fire station and parking garage and to improve A.K. Smiley Library.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State

July 6, 2010 | 3:45 pm

The court battle over the size of state worker paychecks continues.

The Schwarzenegger administration submitted a court petition Tuesday in Sacramento County Superior Court seeking an injunction to force state Controller John Chiang to slash the wages of roughly 200,000 state workers.

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Number of days past constitutional deadline: 21

Officials watch Sacramento for more takeaways
Wendy Leung, Staff Writer
Created: 07/05/2010 09:00:19 PM PDT

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – Three weeks after the city passed a $91.8 million budget, city leaders approved a number of measures to address recent budgetary changes, which include a $1.4 million hit due to the outcome of the San Bernardino County sheriff’s contract negotiations.

Last week, the City Council approved the allocation of $150,000 in law enforcement reserves to facilitate schedule changes proposed by the Sheriff’s Department. City leaders also directed staff members to draft a contingency plan to prepare for possible loss of redevelopment funds and to strengthen funding for employees pension reserves.

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Budget woes force layoffs, cutbacks
Jesse B. Gill, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/05/2010 08:06:23 PM PDT

REDLANDS – The Police Department fared worse than other city departments in a series of job cuts and layoffs.

However, they refuse to take it lying down.

The Police Department eliminated a total of 21 jobs – including 15 through layoffs.

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10:00 PM PDT on Monday, July 5, 2010

By JAN SEARS
The Press-Enterprise

Fees for services provided by the city of Redlands — from animal adoptions to building permits — likely will be going up in the next few months.

The issue of fee increases came up in June, during a long series of budget meetings, when the City Council narrowed the deficit from almost $9 million to about $877,000.

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By Mark Glover
mglover@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Tuesday, Jul. 6, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 5B
Last Modified: Tuesday, Jul. 6, 2010 – 8:17 am

The California State Board of Equalization said that June sales tax allocations to local governments will not increase by a previously anticipated 5.7 percent due to a 3.53 percent decline in cash receipts in the second quarter compared with last year.

BOE said an analysis of second quarter 2010 data – including cash receipts amassed in April – prompted it to “proceed without an increase to local jurisdictions.”

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The US workforce shrank by 652,000 in June, one of the sharpest contractions ever. The rate of hourly earnings fell 0.1pc. Wages are flirting with deflation.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Published: 9:33PM BST 04 Jul 2010

“The economy is still in the gravitational pull of the Great Recession,” said Robert Reich, former US labour secretary. “All the booster rockets for getting us beyond it are failing.”

“Home sales are down. Retail sales are down. Factory orders in May suffered their biggest tumble since March of last year. So what are we doing about it? Less than nothing,” he said.

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Number of days past constitutional deadline: 20

San Bernardino voters may face referendum
Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/04/2010 10:27:04 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO – City voters who agreed four years ago to raise sales taxes as a way to hire more police officers may soon be asked to ratify another tax hike to maintain the city’s fiscal solvency.

A proposal to raise San Bernardino’s sales taxes by half a percent is on the City Council’s Tuesday agenda. The council may direct City Manager Charles McNeely to prepare a tax referendum for the November ballot.

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Number of days past constitutional deadline: 19

Greg Devereaux

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/03/2010 07:10:35 AM PDT

San Bernardino County’s nearly 19,000 employees have accrued $152 million in vacation and sick time, holiday pay and administrative leave – an unfunded liability that will need addressing to keep the budget on track in coming years, officials say.

The problem is not the accrual, considered a standard process in many counties and municipalities, but the fact that the county has not funded the accrued time in past years, County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux said.

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10:40 PM PDT on Saturday, July 3, 2010

By DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
The Press-Enterprise

SAN BERNARDINO – Having rejected two tax-raising measures last week, the San Bernardino City Council on Tuesday will consider a half-cent sales tax increase to balance its teetering spending program.

The council approved a $131 million general fund budget Wednesday that is intended to pay for day-to-day expenses but hinges on the council finding a way to plug a $24 million deficit.

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By Shane Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times

July 4, 2010

Reporting from Sacramento —

Many of the pressures that can push California’s leaders toward a budget accord are absent this summer as the state lurches into yet another budget year without a spending plan.

The lack of acute suffering from the budget stalemate may help explain why talks between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and top lawmakers show no signs of agreement on how to tackle California’s $19.1-billion deficit.

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The nation loses 125,000 jobs in June, but the unemployment rate falls to 9.5% as more workers leave the labor force.

By Don Lee, Los Angeles Times

July 3, 2010

Reporting from Washington —

A disappointing new jobs report provided the latest and sharpest sign yet that the economic recovery may be losing momentum and that few industries are ready to spur job growth to replace the millions lost during the recession.

The June employment report released Friday by the Labor Department suggested that with stimulus money running out, Washington in the mood to retrench and the private sector still struggling, it probably will take years to overcome the 7-million-plus jobs deficit.

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10:00 PM PDT on Friday, July 2, 2010

By DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise

The Inland region’s property values are showing signs of stabilizing as the assessors in Riverside and San Bernardino counties reported smaller declines this year.

Riverside County’s tax rolls declined 4.25 percent, far less than the 10.5 percent drop in 2009, Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder Larry Ward reported this week.

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Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Created: 07/02/2010 06:13:58 PM PDT

CHINO – School district board members have authorized the superintendent to begin work on substantial future budget cuts to deal with a major deficit expected in two years.

Chino Valley Unified officials project a $30 million deficit in the 2012-2013 school year, as expenditures have begun to outpace revenues and massive reductions to state education coffers continue. The board must determine a fiscal plan to deal with the shortfall by its first interim budget report to the county on Nov. 20.

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Controller John Chiang

By Jon Ortiz and Kevin Yamamura
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Saturday, Jul. 3, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Saturday, Jul. 3, 2010 – 12:12 am

The decision is in. The fight isn’t over.

Sacramento’s 3rd District Court of Appeal on Friday upheld a 17-month-old ruling allowing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to order state workers’ pay reduced to minimum wage in the absence of a budget.

Although the state is now three days into the new fiscal year with no budget and the governor has instructed more than 200,000 government employees’ pay lowered to the federal minimum, the ultimate impact of the court decision is far from clear.

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Published: Saturday, Jul. 3, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

With the ballyhooed July 1 milepost having come and gone, expect slow going for a while on the budget.

Republican and Democratic legislative leaders met privately Thursday to discuss their next steps. They are interested in working out as much as possible without Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and they want to reconvene the joint budget conference committee next week.

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Ramos

Sources inside the San Bernardino County’s District Attorney and County Administrative Offices are quietly confirming the cost of DA Mike Ramos’ alleged corruption investigations involving multiple individuals has exceeded $5 million.

A huge taxpayer price tag for Ramos’ reelection showcase and political vendetta.

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