This year, California's 58 counties find themselves in familiar territory: They lost even the minuscule $100 million annually that Gov. Pete Wilson proposed in his original budget draft and that Democrats in the Legislature later expanded to $280 million. At first blush, this money sounds substantial, but it represents only a fraction of the funds that have been diverted from the counties' coffers over the years to balance the state's books.

As the governor signs the $67 billion spending plan for the 1997-98 fiscal year into law -- he's doing it today at an Elk Grove elementary school to proclaim his administration's commitment to public education -- the counties and other state entities find themselves the casualties of Wilson's decision to immediately repay $1.36 billion to the Public Employees Retirement System. The payback, required by a court order, covers funds the state raided from PERS during California's punishing recession.

Wilson's action to make the PERS payment in a single lump sum has affected all aspects of the budget except education, which is assured of a stable source of funding by a ballot initiative voters approved a decade ago. But even before the governor announced the payback, Wilson had intended to return to the counties only a scant 0.3 percent of the roughly $3 billion in local property taxes the state diverts each year.

The state's strong economic performance this year took even optimistic economists by surprise, providing nearly $2 billion in unexpected tax revenues. But that money was eaten up by the PERS payback, an action described by the governor as a "neutron bomb" impacting the entire budget, and left little for discretionary spending.

When word of Wilson's PERS payback filtered through the Capitol, those familiar with the counties' plight knew immediately that any additional funds for the counties -- whether $100 million or $280 million -- would be quickly eliminated. And they were right.

As one budgeter emerged from the conference committee's deliberations, he was asked what affect the PERS action would have on the counties' funds.

"They're toast," he said.

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*** 1997-1998 Who's Who in PDF ***

Who's Who in the California Legislature, our in-depth biographical version of the Pocket Directory, will soon be available, via our Web site, for download in Adobe PDF format. By downloading your own PDF copy of the Who's Who, you may then print the pages of the legislators you need, or print your own copy of the book. More information on the Who's Who is available at http://www.capenq.com/brochure/whoswho.html.

*** 1998 Directories ***

While all of our 1997 directories are still available, we're now taking orders for all of our 1998 publications. Contact us today to place your order! You can even order through our Web site using our secure server, at http://www.capenq.com/order.