Three multibillion-dollar tax measures on the Nov. 6 ballot are getting much media attention, but dozens of local governments and school districts are also asking voters to issue bonds and raise taxes or fees, according to a report compiled for the League of California Cities.
Michael Coleman, a fiscal policy adviser for the league and the California Society of Municipal Finance Officers, wrote the report, which covers more than 350 local measures.
A total of 237 seek bonds, taxes or fees, nearly half of which are school bond issues that total more than $14 billion.
Three measures are initiatives while the rest were placed on the ballot by the affected agencies.
There are also 25 school parcel tax measures, 34 city or county sales tax increases and 23 non-school parcel taxes.
The local tax increases placed before voters this year reflect widespread fiscal angst in local governments.
Three California cities have already filed for bankruptcy protection this year, and a number of others have declared financial emergencies.
– Dan Walters
BILL WATCH
A Christian legal group, the Pacific Justice Institute, has sued to overturn a just-approved law to stop mental health pros from practicing therapies aimed at making gay teenagers straight. The suit, filed on behalf of a psychiatrist and a marriage and family therapist who is also a church pastor in San Diego, claims the law violates First Amendment and equal protection rights.
– Associated Press
WORTH REPEATING
"It's kind of like you're living in the past, you're taking care of things in the past, rather than looking at the future and building more roads, more schools and more universities."
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, bemoaning California's unfunded public pension liability as he promoted his new book on "The Daily Show"
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