Guest opinion: Some good reasons to support Props 65 and 1A Guest opinion: Some good reasons to support Props 65 and 1A (August 11, 2004)

By Charles Marsala

In addition to choosing among the candidates in this fall's election, voters will have 14 propositions on the ballot.

As an Atherton City Council member, I have been participating in the California League of Cities' effort to stop the state from taking money from the cities to balance the state budget. This work has resulted in Propositions 1A and 65 on this year's ballot. I would like to explain these two ballot measures and their importance.

Last January while Gov. Gray Davis was submitting a budget to the Legislature that eliminated two-thirds of the funding cities received from the Vehicle License Fee (VLF), I was attending a League of Cities meeting in Sacramento. The governor's irresponsible action was a focus of the conference and caused months of scrambling by city councils and staff to find methods to fund services. It resulted in layoffs and the use of reserves to balance many city budgets.

Realizing the state needed to be blocked from causing such chaos in the future, the League of Cities began working on Proposition 65.

The governor's action was the third time the state had taken money from cities to balance its budget. The first was after Proposition 13 was passed in 1978, which essentially froze property tax rates. The second was in 1992 under the Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF) shift. Under ERAF the state reduced Atherton's share of property tax revenue by $689,000 per year.

On April 16 of this year, the League was able to place Proposition 65 on the ballot. Soon after, Gov. Schwarzenegger asked League officers to reconsider, and ultimately a compromise, Proposition 1A, was reached, which achieved 85 percent of what the League wanted in Proposition 65. League officers and members felt it was better to have a compromise supported by the governor, who would fight for it against the Legislature, than to go solo with Proposition 65.

As soon as the budget was approved July 29, the governor flew to the League conference in Monterey and pledged his support to fight for Proposition 1A and to ensure that controls would be placed on the Legislature to stop them from using cities' money to increase state spending.

For protection, the League kept Proposition 65 on the ballot. Should both propositions pass, the one with the most votes would be implemented. Both propositions protect cities from the state's taking any more city money from cities via the VLF, and property and sales taxes.

Proposition 1A requires the state to fund programs or cancel programs that cities are mandated to implement by state law and for the state to repay the VLF money "borrowed" last year. The VLF rate will be reduced from 2 percent to 0.65 percent and the unreliable state VLF backfill will be replaced with reliable property tax funds.

Reducing the VLF is a win for most Peninsula cities. At a 2 percent assessment, Atherton residents would be paying approximately $2 million ($800 per household) per year and receiving back only $365,000. The VLF funds are collected per car value and distributed by population. A more favorable method for Atherton residents is the Atherton parcel tax, of which 100 percent goes to Atherton and is fully tax deductible.

I support passage of Proposition 1A, which will promote stability in funding public safety, health, and other critical services provided by local government.

Charles Marsala is a member of the Atherton City Council.

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