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Californians to Protect Public Safety and Local Services files proposed constitutional amendment ballot measure

By on November 2nd, 2011

CSAC, the California State Sheriffs’ Association and the Chief Probation Officers of California have partnered to create a coalition called Californians to Protect Public Safety and Local Services, which has filed a proposed constitutional amendment ballot measure with the Attorney General’s office. The measure, slated for the November 2012 ballot, would provide counties and other local governments a protected revenue source, out of existing state funds, to support the delivery of public safety, senior and children’s services that were recently realigned from the state to local governments. The content of the measure strongly parallels SCA 1x – the constitutional measure that was negotiated as part of the realignment discussions but which failed to pass the legislature.

Following the direction provided by our Board of Directors, CSAC joined the coalition to file this measure to preserve all options to ensure that voters will have the opportunity to pass a measure to protect funding for local services in November 2012.

At the same time, CSAC continues to work with the Administration and other parties on alternative options for achieving the same goal of constitutional protections. We remain open to alternative approaches, however our primary goal, as stated from the time realignment was first proposed in early 2011, is to secure the needed protections to fund the programs that have been realigned to counties.

Title & Summary for the measure will be issued by the Attorney General’s Office in late December, at which point CSAC will weigh the pros and cons of proceeding with signature gathering on the Californians to Protect Public Safety and Local Services measure or pursuing any viable alternatives to achieving the necessary constitutional protections.

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CSAC Loses A Friend in Tim Hodson

By on October 25th, 2011

There was sadness throughout the CSAC offices this morning when we heard about the passing of Tim Hodson. Tim has been a longtime friend and contributor to our Association, working with us on many fronts in the pursuit of making government work the best that it can. 

While serving as the Executive Director of the Center for California Studies, Tim played an integral role in the development of CSAC’s New Supervisors Institute, which earned the program a CSU Sacramento accreditation.  He was there to welcome the newly elected county supervisors when the first session began, and always made sure to give them some parting and encouraging words of wisdom when they graduated and received their credential.  Tim knew the challenges they were facing and the commitment they were making – perhaps better than they did at the time. 

When we were first looking to develop the CSAC Institute for Excellence in County Government a few years ago, Tim was one of the first people we met with to get his input. He was enthusiastic about the concept, and he went on to work closely with our staff to design the Institute’s curriculum. He also served as an Institute instructor. 

Above and beyond his ongoing contributions to CSAC, Tim was an incredible individual. He had an amazing grasp of politics and state government, but perhaps more importantly, Tim understood people. If you ever had a chance to have a talk with Tim, you left feeling a bit better about yourself. 

For those of you who followed Tim’s battle through the thoughtful and inspiring updates written by Tim’s wife on his Caring Bridge page, you know that Tim always kept his humor, wit and grace no matter how tough the road was getting. I found those updates to be sad but also incredibly inspiring, often making me take a closer look at myself in the mirror.  He will be missed. 

A Sacramento State scholarship has been established in his honor. For more information on that fund, contact hoenigco@csus.edu.

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NACo survey: Counties settling into the ‘new normal’ of revenue, staffing and service

By on October 21st, 2011

 A new National Association of Counties (NACo) survey shows that counties large and small appear to be settling into the “new normal” of revenue, staffing and service delivery levels after years of revenue losses in a U.S. economy struggling toward recovery.

“Coping with the New Normal: An Economic Status Survey of Counties” is the seventh survey in a series of twice yearly efforts by NACo to capture information about counties as they struggle with the current fiscal situation. The new survey shows counties are continuing to make difficult budget decisions and are still scaling back or deferring certain activities to help them through their current fiscal year.

Although most financial analysts believe that the recession ended more than a year ago, local economies affecting county governments continue to struggle toward recovery. As this economic slowdown drags on, counties have made increasingly more severe – or long term in nature – budget adjustments to try to adopt balanced budgets and still maintain mandated service deliveries.

“As a result of the slow economic recovery, counties appear to be settling into the ‘new normal’ of revenue, staffing and service delivery levels,” said NACo Executive Director Larry E. Naake.

In early October, NACo surveyed all counties that have professional managers, clerks or administrators. Of these 2,000 counties, 233 responded representing 38 states. Counties of all budget sizes responded providing a good representative distribution of counties in the nation by population.

Key findings include the following:

  • Only 35 percent of responding counties (69 counties) report that they adopted balanced budgets this fiscal year with no anticipated shortfalls.
  • More than half of responding counties (51 percent or 107 counties) report that declining revenues from the state and federal government was the number one contributor to their shortfalls.
  • Two thirds of responding counties (66 percent or 143 counties) report employing fewer county employees this fiscal year as compared to the number of county employees in FY2010.

The cuts are being felt by Americans all across the country since county governments are responsible for providing so many essential services important to communities. These services include maintaining roads and bridges, operating airports and other transit systems, delivering critical health care services, providing law enforcement, courtroom and jail services, funding schools, and numerous social services for seniors and families. Many counties are the first line of defense for emergency and pandemic preparedness and response.

The budget cuts and staffing adjustments, the new survey shows, have touched nearly every aspect of county government services:

  • Planning, Zoning, Engineering, Surveyors, Code Enforcement (46 percent reported cuts);
  • Roads, Highways, Transportation (45 percent reported cuts);
  • Administration, Budget, HR (42 percent reported cuts);
  • Sheriff, Police & Fire & Rescue (35 percent reported cuts);
  • Human Services, Children, Seniors, Veterans (33 percent reported cuts);
  • Public Works, Building & Grounds, Water, Sewer, Waste Management (31 percent reported cuts);
  • Health (26 percent); Libraries (26 percent), and Jails and Corrections (25 percent reported cuts).

Naake said NACo leadership and members will continue to work with Congress and the Administration to address the troubled economy.

“Despite the local budget challenges, counties are ideally situated to lead the way back toward economic growth and opportunity in communities across the country,” Naake said. “We pledge to continue to work in partnership with our federal leaders to meet these great challenges in these most difficult times.”

For more information, contact Jim Philipps at 202.942.4220 or jphilipps@naco.org.

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The National Association of Counties (NACo) is the only national organization that represents county governments in the United States.  Founded in 1935, NACo provides essential services to the nation’s 3,068 counties.  NACo advances issues with a unified voice before the federal government, improves the public’s understanding of county government, assists counties in finding and sharing innovative solutions through education and research, and provides value-added services to save counties and taxpayers money.  For more information about NACo, visit www.naco.org.

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Digging for the Good News (But Not Too Deep)

By on October 19th, 2011

Unemployment is up for the third month in a row. More sectors are losing jobs than gaining them. The government sector in California has shed 27,300 jobs over the past year. State revenues are coming in below budgeted amounts. Baseball season is almost over. There’s bad news everywhere you turn these days.

But there is good news, and you don’t even have to do much digging, you just have to know where to look for the real story.

Let’s start small.

The number of non-farm jobs rose from last year to this for the eleventh straight year. Not many, and not enough to keep up with population growth, but still, growth of 1.2% is better than a stick in the eye.

Permitting for multi-family housing is incredibly strong, more than making up for some weakness in single-family home construction (which partly has to do with changes to construction standards and a resulting rush on single-family permitting at the end of last year).

Single-family permitting might be down, but sales of existing single-family homes went wild in August, more than enough to make up for a pretty bad July, and the homes went at good prices too, with the median sale price hitting a 2011 high.

But I saved the best for last. Even though the state’s revenues are down compared to budget expectations (no doubt you remember that the budget includes a previously unforecast $4 billion in extra revenue), personal income taxes are coming in well above expectations. Now some may say that it’s only because people are prepaying when they don’t have to (the rules changed and apparently not everyone got the memo), and that is boosting the September number. But even before September, income taxes were coming in above expectations.

In fact, without that $4 billion of magic revenue the budget relies on, the state would be a little above forecast revenues. So even with the loss of federal stimulus funds, and even with the slowest economic recovery in the history of the universe, and even with the loss of the temporary taxes rates, and the European debt crisis, and the demise of the shuttle program, things are okay.

The real story will begin to narrate itself in December, which is not only the first major revenue year for the state, but also when the Department of Finance will decide how many of the automatic cuts to trigger. Yes, they have to decide before we know the results of any of the state’s major revenue months (December, January, June, and April). That’s just the way it goes sometimes. If you make the decision any later it’s tough to get any savings in the budget year.

Also, while baseball season might be just about over, don’t look now, but all of California’s professional football teams have winning records (a combined 13-4). And the last team to leave California is 0-5. So everyone stay put and we’ll make it through this.

(All of the fiscal and financial numbers in this article come from the monthly Finance Bulletin published today by the California Department of Finance, which is reporting jobs numbers from August and state revenue numbers through September. That part about baseball season almost being over is original research, as are the football stats.)

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CSAC Institute Reaches Milestones

By on October 17th, 2011

The CSAC Institute for Excellence in County Government is reaching two milestones this month. Not only have county officials from all 58 counties now attended Institute courses, but more than 1,000 different county officials will have taken at least one course.

Our courses continue to grow in popularity. In fact, two upcoming courses: “Detecting Fraud in County Governments and Non-Profits,” and “Realignment: Working in a New Era” both have waiting lists as enrollment for each maxed out at 75 students.

The Institute is constantly looking for new ways to meet the educational and training needs of our membership. For example, the Executive Leadership Symposium will be launched in early 2012. Design strictly for county supervisors and county executives, this Symposium is an intensive three-day leadership practices learning experience designed to build your capacities in collaboration and adoptive change to evaluate current challenges and make progress on persistent issues and challenges. The Symposium is scheduled for mid-February in San Jose. The application deadline is Oct. 31, so don’t hesitate if you are interested.

Look for the 2012 Winter/Spring schedule to be released during the CSAC Annual Meeting in November. And speaking of the Annual Meeting, the Institute will once again be presenting credentials to county supervisors and senior executives who have completed the necessary course work. By the end of the year, more than 50 county officials will have received their CSAC Institute credential.

The Institute will be offering four courses during Annual Meeting week: “Leadership in Decision Making on Monday,” Nov. 28; “Joint Use of Facilities” on Tuesday, Nov. 29; “County Pensions and Pension Reform” on Thursday, Dec. 1; and “Talent Development and Succession Planning” on Friday, Dec. 2. These courses are set up at times to allow county officials to attend a class or two without interfering with Annual Meeting business. To learn more about these courses, visit the Institute Website.

We urge you to try an Institute course. No matter whether you are a county supervisor, administrator, department head or staff, there is subject matter you will find useful to your current position and to enhance your professional growth.