California’s coming meltdown….for real or political posturing?
At work today, the person responsible for maintaining a liason between my County and the public circulated an email that set out our County’s position on Governor Schwarzenegger’s recent proposals in response to the budget impasse.
Basically, the Governor is suggesting a 7 month deferral of State funding for programs and administrative costs….in other words, the programs the state administers AND the wages/salaries of the folks who administer them would be on hold until July or August. Now, most folks dont know that in most cases, the Counties can carry the burden for a limited time, with no interruption in services or pay. In fact, last year, my county carried the ball for 2 months while the State dickered over the budget, and no one was any the wiser.
The current situation is that the money is there for the month of February, but dont count on March. I remember the days when this county threatened bankruptcy, and the State employees were paid in vouchers, and the banks were refusing to honor those vouchers (at least until the State forced them to) The employees voluntarily agreed to work a 4 day workweek and things managed to limp along until the budget was passed…..
Perhaps Im not being realistic, or perhaps I just refuse to sign on for the mass hysteria that accompanies the angst over budget balancing. Either way, Im not too worked up over this (at least not YET) because I am of the opinion that the Governor is counting on scare tactics and public pressure to get a Democratic CA legislature to bow to his agenda. The fact that the Dems arent doing this is encouraging to me….perhaps we’ve evolved a backbone after all…At any event, I have lost what scant respect I ever had for AH NULD over his most recent political ploy. Shame really, he had a lot of good ideas, and a smart wife to advise him. In politics, aint nothing sadder than the ghost of a “contender”.
Its ALL Blarney!! 