In our little 'burb they actually did layoff City employees. From inspectors to two of the three ladies that run the community owned projects, our Community & Cultural Center, Aquatics Center and the Indoor Recreation Center. It's gotten pretty quiet at City Hall, but at least our leaders are showing some fiscal responsibility.
We still have a small surplus from the better years, and our RDA funds, but being proactive and with a lot of debate and community involvement the cuts were still made. At least in our City we are actually recruiting two more police officers (with Federal Stimulus Funds maybe?) and are trying to hold our own.
The State however is in the tank -
State Controller John Chiang started the IOU print run this morning... 3.36 million dollars worth of them!
From Reuters -
"Due to its steep decline in revenue, California risks running out of cash later this month to pay all of its bills unless its books are balanced quickly. To conserve cash, State Controller John Chiang plans to issue IOUs by Thursday to state vendors, some local agencies and various recipients of state aid, including the elderly, disabled and college students.
Chiang plans to send $3.36 billion in IOUs this month to help make $10.9 billion in other payments, including money owed to investors holding California's debt. "The general obligation bonds will be paid," he told Reuters. "California has never defaulted on its debt obligation and we don't plan to do so."
California, which had the eighth largest economy in the world in 2006, according it its Legislative Analysts' Office, now needs to reassure Wall Street because state officials see the need to sell $7 billion to $9 billion of short-term debt once there is a budget agreement."
Sorry, I also wanted to add in my congratulations to Arizona for what you've accomplished! Getting Legislative changes through is a real accomplishment. Congrats to all involved for their hard work.