The state budget that Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislators enacted last month depends on some additional spending cuts, some clever bookkeeping, and some shaky revenue projections.

Plus some fees.

There's a new $150 per house fee to offset fire protection costs in rural areas where the state, rather than a local fire department, is the first line of defense.

There's a new auto registration fee to pay for the Department of Motor Vehicles, thus freeing up unrestricted funds.

Finally, because the budget whacked state support for the University of California and the California State University systems, student fees are being raised sharply to cover the shortfall.

Not unexpectedly, there are complaints.

Those hit with the new fire fees, backed by their legislators, complain in essence that they shouldn't have to pay because they already pay state taxes – an illogical contention if there ever was one.

Yes, they pay state taxes, but millions of others who pay state taxes are also paying local property and sales taxes to support their local fire departments.

In other words, those enjoying state fire protection – mostly in rural, politically conservative areas – have been getting a kind of handout at everyone else's expense.

The fire fee is conceptually similar to a new requirement that local redevelopment agencies must share their revenue to remain in business. Those agencies have been skimming about $5 billion a year off the top of the property tax pool before funds are distributed among schools and local governments.

The state must make up about $2 billion of that diversion to schools. So in effect, all state taxpayers have been subsidizing local redevelopment projects.

And then there are those college fees. One commentator went so far as to claim that when Republicans refused to go along with Brown's pitch for additional tax revenue, they were indirectly imposing a tax on college students.

Balderdash.

A fee is a fee, not a tax. Taxes are involuntary but fees pay for specific non-mandatory services, such as college educations.

Roughly a third of California's adults have four-year college degrees, so they have enjoyed low-cost educations at the expense of everyone else.

One could argue, with great validity, that everyone has a stake in having a well-educated workforce, but even with the fee increases, college in California is still highly subsidized and still a very good deal.

California State University fees will still be among the lowest in the nation vis-à-vis comparable institutions, according to data from the California Postsecondary Education Commission. University of California fees will be about average. And our community college fees are still rock-bottom.

Fair is fair, and the new fees that are causing such angst are very fair.

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Call The Bee's Dan Walters, (916) 321-1195. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/walters

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