State of California is broke

It looks like counties and municipalities can, but are not required to, participate in the State pension programs.

To that point, whatever CA does or doesn't do to change pension cost for local governments directly impacts local property taxes - implicating everyone's favorite Prop. 13.

The various tax related ballot initiatives in California really have made a sensible tax policy that much more difficult to enact. Of course, that assumes that a sensible tax policy would be developed so I guess it doesn't really matter.

 

I think the state is in charge of teachers and prison guards -- and the prison guards, while you would think they are a small part of this problem, are actually the ones who ignited the whole thing by demanding and getting ridiculous pensions. But police and fire are indeed the municipalities' responsibility.

One thing that has become clear too is that this is all a police and fire situation, and any attempts to enact pension reform while excluding them are window dressing.

 

Completely agree.

 

They were a sacred cow for the GOP in California in the 2010 election. Brown had to apologize to Whitman for a staffer calling her a "whore" because of her refusal to support public safety pension cuts which the aide thought was tied to her subsequent endorsement by the public safety unions in California.

 

Wasn't giving prison guards the kid glove treatment in terms of cuts one of the factors that led to the recall of Davis? They were among his biggest donors, and as much as they talk, no politician will do anything to cut off his/her cash flow.

 

The trustees of the Cal State University system just insist on giving raises to the university presidents.
Attract and retain talent, best and the brightest, yadda yadda....

http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_21094435/csu-trustees-approve-presidential-salary-raises-discuss-possible

Its always OTHER people who have to make the sacrifices.


Good luck with that tax increase on the ballot in November, Jerry Brown.

 

The new president of the local state university got a 15 percent raise compared to her predecessor despite not having any experience as a university president.

 

And in the UC system, regents threatened a 20 percent tuition hike if the tax measure fails. VOTE YES OR THE 20-YEAR-OLD GETS IT!!!!

 

When I see that these guys are being voted raises - and the car allowances - I don't see a chance in hell Joe Sixpack is going to read that and rush to vote the tax increase. So am I out of touch?

 

You, me and 70 percent of the voting public have no idea what the will of the people is.

 

Well, this is just fucking great:

http://www.mercurynews.com/california-budget/ci_21150193/state-parks-scandal-honor-system-used-keep-track

SACRAMENTO -- With state leaders scrambling to find out how state parks officials kept tens of millions of dollars hidden for more than a decade, California's top finance officials Tuesday acknowledged what could be a far bigger problem: They have no system in place to account for $37 billion in "special funds'' scattered throughout state government.

Instead, finance officials revealed, they rely on an honor system to track money that could be stashed away in untold accounts similar to the funds that turned up last week, sparking a scandal in the state parks department.

... The little-known practice of trusting -- and not verifying -- took a remarkable turn last week when Gov. Jerry Brown's administration discovered that top parks officials had withheld $54 million in two special-fund accounts by not reporting them over the last 12 years.

Prop 13 problem, poin? Sounds to me like a Prop 13 problem.