2008 Woodie Awards
Budget woes not over yet
Kevin Kelley
Issue date: 3/19/04 Section: News
With the passage of Propositions 57 and 58, voters gave Governor
Schwarzenegger the go-ahead to begin his move for a balanced budget, but while the governor's measures have received widespread support from community colleges, that doesn't mean the Yuba Community College District is safe from budget problems of its own.
One threat is that cuts to community colleges may be put on the agenda for the May revise of the state budget.
The Legislative Analyst's Office reported that a $4 billion deficit will result under the current plan, even if all of the governor's assumptions are correct and no major budget threats materialize.
Michael Dencavage, the Vice President of Business Services for the Yuba Community College District, said such a deficit could pose a problem for community colleges.
"There will have to be either expenditure reductions at the state level or revenue enhancements: taxes," Dencavage said.
Public resistance to tax increases makes the latter solution unlikely, however, and means cuts will have to be made to resolve the deficit.
Proposition 56, the measure that would have allowed passage of tax bills with a 55 percent vote of the Legislature rather than the two-thirds vote required now, was rejected by 66 percent of voters on March 2. The failure of Proposition 56 underscored the opposition to tax increases.
Yet while tax hikes are increasingly unlikely, the governor's proposed cuts also face trouble in the legislature, which could mean a deeper deficit for the state.
According to a State Budget Update from the Community College League of California, the Legislature has already rejected many of the Governor's proposed cuts, including $400 million from the Department of Corrections to be specified in May.
The governor's agreement with K-12 schools and community colleges also came under fire, the Budget Update reported, because "the Legislature was not part of the agreement, and many legislators were quite frustrated with parties to the agreement. The agreement, they thought, was too generous to education while many other programs are being cut."
Schwarzenegger the go-ahead to begin his move for a balanced budget, but while the governor's measures have received widespread support from community colleges, that doesn't mean the Yuba Community College District is safe from budget problems of its own.
One threat is that cuts to community colleges may be put on the agenda for the May revise of the state budget.
The Legislative Analyst's Office reported that a $4 billion deficit will result under the current plan, even if all of the governor's assumptions are correct and no major budget threats materialize.
Michael Dencavage, the Vice President of Business Services for the Yuba Community College District, said such a deficit could pose a problem for community colleges.
"There will have to be either expenditure reductions at the state level or revenue enhancements: taxes," Dencavage said.
Public resistance to tax increases makes the latter solution unlikely, however, and means cuts will have to be made to resolve the deficit.
Proposition 56, the measure that would have allowed passage of tax bills with a 55 percent vote of the Legislature rather than the two-thirds vote required now, was rejected by 66 percent of voters on March 2. The failure of Proposition 56 underscored the opposition to tax increases.
Yet while tax hikes are increasingly unlikely, the governor's proposed cuts also face trouble in the legislature, which could mean a deeper deficit for the state.
According to a State Budget Update from the Community College League of California, the Legislature has already rejected many of the Governor's proposed cuts, including $400 million from the Department of Corrections to be specified in May.
The governor's agreement with K-12 schools and community colleges also came under fire, the Budget Update reported, because "the Legislature was not part of the agreement, and many legislators were quite frustrated with parties to the agreement. The agreement, they thought, was too generous to education while many other programs are being cut."