Politics & Government

Brown Signs Budget Bills; Murrieta Waits For Answers

The state budget calls for local funds and takes the proposed legislative tax extensions away.

With a new fiscal year beginning on Friday and a budget in place, state lawmakers may be breathing a sigh of relief, but local leaders aren't feeling as relaxed. 

The budget package that makes up a series of bills, some of which have been signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday, calls for the displacement of redevelopment agencies, steering $1.7 billion to the state when the fiscal year begins on Friday.

The $85.9 billion budget—which was approved in both houses on Tuesday without Republican support and is expected to be signed entirely by Brown soon—relies on $4 billion more in state revenue and deep cuts to higher education and courts.

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It includes K-12 education cuts of $1.5 billion if revenue projections fall short. The cuts would equal shortening the school year seven days.

Revenue generating measures include increasing vehicle registration fees by $12; requiring online retailers such as Amazon.com to collect state sales tax; creating a $150 charge for homeowners in high-risk fire areas; and postponing $300 million in construction of court buildings.

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Of the budget bills approved by the Legislature late Tuesday, two seek to change the way redevelopment works in California.

Assembly Bills X1-26 and X1-27 seek to restructure redevelopment agencies—which allow cities to develop communities in blighted areas—in a way that diverts money to the state.

Murrieta's finance director, Joy Canfield, said the bills would have an impact on the Murrieta Redevelopment Agency. The changes would need to be brought back to City Council, she said, so she was unable to provide just what impact they would have.

Though the League of California Cities—an association of city officials—plans to sue the state by the end of the week over the two redevelopment bills, many cities made moves in an attempt to protect as many local dollars from Gov. Jerry Brown's initial proposal to completely eliminate redevelopment agencies.

In April, the Murrieta City Council approved the creation of the "Murrieta Housing Authority" as a way to hold on to some of those funds and use them for low-income housing, should the assembly bills go through.

The Murrieta Redevelopment Agency planned for $7.3 million in revenue in the 2011-2012 Fiscal Year, and $7 million in expenditures. In past years, , such as the Linnell Lane bridge over Interstate 215. Improvements to Murrieta’s Historic Downtown and more infrastructure projects around key business areas, like the Interstate 15 corridor, were also in the pipeline.

ABX1-26 would dissolve all local redevelopment agencies by October.

Canfield said there will have to be a realignment of those funds once the assembly bills were signed. Other than that, she didn't foresee any other significant changes to the City's budget, which was approved by council members last week.

At least one Republican leader who represents Murrieta at the state level wasn't happy with the budget. 

Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, whose senate district includes Murrieta and Temecula, blasted Democrats for passing the budget with a simple majority.

"This Democrat-controlled budget throws the most vulnerable, the weakest and our children under the bus," he said. "They have installed funding ‘trigger’ cuts that close classrooms but prohibit even one public employee from being laid off."

Though the budget was approved by Democrats, the party hasn't expressed complete contentment with the results, as their original budget was vetoed by the governor on June 16.

In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Darrell Steinberg said, “This is not a budget to celebrate. There’s a lot of pain here for a lot of people. We enacted a plan that preserves our opportunity for economic recovery, and look forward to giving Californians the chance to vote on making that recovery even stronger.”

The budget addresses a deficit that once topped $26.6 billion and passed both houses without a Republican vote. This is the second time in two decades that the budget was adopted on time and is largely due to Proposition 25, which was approved by voters in November, that allows lawmakers to pass a no-tax-hike budget with a simple majority. Though the deferment of redevelopment funds to local schools is what lawmakers are promising—the budget still postpones about $3 billion in payments to schools. 

Murrieta Valley Unified School District Spokesperson Karen Parris said Wednesday that the district will not make any changes to its 2011-2012 Fiscal Year budget, which was , until it has heard the final word from Sacramento.

The district's budget incorporated the governor's proposed tax extensions, which were not part of the final budget approved by the Legislature.

To read the budget bills, visit the Legislature's website here.

Maggie Avants contributed to this report.


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