California Redevelopment Association Executive Director John Shirey, formerly a deputy city manager for Long Beach, slammed newly-elected Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget on Monday.
Brown’s budget proposal seeks to cut $12.5 billion in state spending, including an 8-10% pay cut for most state employees and $500 million cuts to both the UC and CSU higher education systems. See this related Long Beach Post story for details.
Shirey called the budget proposal “smoke and mirrors” and said it will bring little financial gain for California. “It is another gimmick that will likely result in extensive litigation,” he said in a statement.
“Redevelopment contributes tens of billions of dollars to our economy and is responsible for more than $2 billion in state and local taxes each year. It makes no sense to kill this economic engine,” Shirey continued. “Bottom line, the budget proposal to eliminate redevelopment will hurt California and cripple the local economy in cities and counties statewide. It is not a solution and will not work to solve the State’s budget problems.”
The cuts would remove money from local redevelopment agencies, such as the Long Beach RDA. The California Redevelopment Agency over the summer was locked in a battle with the state over a $2.05 billion take of redevelopment funds by the state (which included some $36 million from Long Beach specifically) in last year’s budget. That budget bill cost the Long Beach RDA roughly $6 million, City Manager Pat West said at the time.