While governors across the nation, both Democrats and Republicans, are cutting costs and reducing taxes, California’s economic recovery will be spoiled by the governor’s proposal to maintain job-killing high taxes and pass the state’s burden onto local government.
The state is sending a Trojan Horse called realignment to local governments passing state responsibilities, programs and services on to already cash-strapped counties and cities and school districts — without the necessary funding to support them.
Part of the “realignment” proposal is to shift state felons and parole violators to the sheriff’s jails. Many of these offenders are criminals who have pleaded down from more serious crimes. Los Angeles County does not have the capacity to house all of these inmates in our jails nor do we want the increased risk and liability that comes with them. Shifting parole functions to the counties without full funding will negatively impact every law enforcement agency in our county.
The state already owes the County $50.5 million for housing parole violators in county jails. Moreover, since the state implemented the non-revocable parole program in an effort to reduce prison overcrowding, the county has incurred nearly $6 million dollars in services and costs to parolees.
On top of the above $56.5 million in arrears, the state owes the county over $650 million in reimbursements for other state mandated programs. Trusting the state to pay is like obtaining a child support order against a deadbeat parent and expecting to receive anything.
Another part of the “realignment” proposal is to shift the State’s financial responsibility for foster care and child welfare services to counties. However, foster care and child welfare are not conducive to re-alignment.
Decentralizing foster care and child welfare services is a reckless dereliction of the state’s accountability to the federal and local governments as well as the children and families they serve.
Shifting state program responsibilities to local governments fails to address the systemic problems of state government such as pension reform, civil service reforms, consolidations and efficiencies.
The state needs to follow the example of the Board of Supervisors who adopted pension reform, civil service reforms and approved over $3.6 billion dollars in efficiencies and county department consolidations recommended by the Quality and Productivity Commission I initiated in 1982.
Despite the challenges presented to us by the state’s budget fiasco, the County has already made progress in meeting my mayoral goals in 2011, including: public safety, emergency preparedness, foster care, job growth, and economic development.
Public safety remains my highest priority. In January the Board of Supervisors approved an expansion of the County Emergency Operations Center’s information-sharing capabilities. This includes connecting to the Joint Regional Intelligence Center, a multi-jurisdictional collaboration between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies with a focus on intelligence sharing between agencies.
The deadly gas explosion in San Bruno last September illustrated the dangers of natural gas mains made of steel. In February the Board of Supervisors directed the Department of Public Works to report back at the end of March on the status of existing steel gas lines in the County. The report will include the age and number of miles of steel lines as well as the current progress of replacing them with plastic pipes.
To demand accountability and ensure better futures for our foster youth, the County recently received my integrated services reform package for the County’s child welfare system. A key component to this is establishing “Youth Self-Sufficiency” as a countywide goal. The initiative ensures the most effective allocation of federal and state funding for services to youth between the ages of 18 and 21.
Santa Clarita Valley residents will also soon benefit from an expanded Department of Children and Family Services office at 28490 Avenue Stanford.
The expansion will include an additional 3,334 square feet and will house an additional 33 employees from within the department, bringing the combined total staff to 249.
Job growth and economic development are two of my top priorities this year and are critical components of California’s recovery from the current recession. Recently, the Santa Clarita Valley was granted an enterprise zone expansion, to include its unincorporated areas yet the governor’s recent budget proposal directly targets businesses and communities with cuts in the enterprise zone program.
To curtail gang activity and tagging, we initiated a new graffiti removal contract which expands removal services to numerous flood control channels and debris basins in the Santa Clarita Valley.
Making good on a Green initiative started nearly two decades ago, the MTA recently retired the last of its diesel buses. The MTA now has a 100% alternative fuel bus fleet of 2,228 vehicles- the largest of its kind in the world- saving $40 million per year in fuel and eliminating the emission of 300,000 pounds of greenhouse gases daily.
Helping enhance traffic safety for our Westside residents, installation has begun on a traffic signal at Stevenson Ranch Pkwy and Steinbeck, and a Stevenson Ranch Pkwy resurfacing project was approved by the Board of Supervisors.
On January 1st, the County’s new nursing home grading system went into effect, enhancing the quality of care for our senior citizens. The ordinance requires nursing homes to display their federal five star rating and follows the success of our restaurant grading system.
Bringing County standards in line with some of our local unincorporated areas’ Community Standards Districts, the Board of Supervisors approved my “Dark Skies” ordinance. This ordinance preserves the natural darkness of night skies in rural areas, improving quality of life, protecting native wildlife, and reducing energy consumption and air pollution. And this month the Canyon Country Jo Ann Darcy Library reopened with the completion of the expansion project ahead of schedule and well under budget.
To learn more about the state’s budget crisis and how it affects the County, public safety, parks, foster care and vital municipal services, please join me May 18th at 11:30 AM for my 3rd annual State of the County Luncheon, presented by the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce. For more information, sponsorship opportunities or to RSVP please contact the SCV Chamber at (661) 702-6977.
For more information on all County related services, resources and community events, please visit my website at www.antonovich.com or feel free to call my Santa Clarita Valley field office for further assistance at (661) 287-3657.
Sincerely,
MICHAEL D. ANTONOVICH
Mayor, County of Los Angeles
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