Arnold Schwarzenegger is a new kind of governor, and the
”
financial emergency
”
he declared Dec. 18 is a catastrophe of a different sort.
It’s been just a month since the governor, on his first day in
office, reversed the Vehicle License Fee increase passed by his
predecessor’s administration. Taxpayers cheered, but local
governments, which depend on the revenue, railed at the
irresponsibility of the move. On Dec. 18, he declared a fiscal
crisis, an act that allows him to continue sending checks to the
cities and counties without going to the Legislature for the
money.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is a new kind of governor, and the “financial emergency” he declared Dec. 18 is a catastrophe of a different sort.
It’s been just a month since the governor, on his first day in office, reversed the Vehicle License Fee increase passed by his predecessor’s administration. Taxpayers cheered, but local governments, which depend on the revenue, railed at the irresponsibility of the move. On Dec. 18, he declared a fiscal crisis, an act that allows him to continue sending checks to the cities and counties without going to the Legislature for the money.
We’ll all appreciate the firehouses and sheriff’s substations staying open, but the governor still needs a plan to make up the $4 billion annual tab of the car tax on top of the $10 billion deficit the state was already projected to face next year. He trimmed $150 million from universities, migrant farmworker housing and the DMV – cuts that will cover the car-tax tab for a few weeks.
“I hated to do this,” Schwarzenegger said in announcing the declaration, though he didn’t hate cutting the tax that created the crisis. It’s hard to blame him. The voters sent a pretty clear message about the car tax back in October. The governor was just following orders, keeping a promise.
Of course, he also promised not to leave local governments carrying the burden of the car-tax cut. Thus his declaration, but even with emergency powers, it’s hard to see how Schwarzenegger will squeeze any more juice out of the dried-out state budget.
Schwarzenegger earlier this month put forth $2 billion in proposed budget cuts as an ante in the budget-cutting game. They hit higher education, the developmentally disabled, Medical payments to doctors, and flood control and road projects, but the proposals still would close only one-seventh of the gap the state faces next year. The political pressure has already proved intense enough for the governor to reverse himself about the cuts for the disabled. Now who’s a spending addict?
Give the governor some credit: He’s stirred up Sacramento and is setting the agenda. If he really wants to be a different kind of politician, though, he could start by leveling with the voters about how deep of a hole we’re in, and the effort it will take to get out.
In the meantime, while the “action, action, action” is making for a rollicking show, we’d suggest a sprinkling of some thought, thought, thought into the mix – just to prevent any more crises until this one is settled.
