SAN DIEGO COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Taking From Peter to Pay Paul : Hard-pressed counties should be allowed to charge cities for some services

There wasn’t much good news for San Diego County--or any California county--in last year’s state budget crisis. But one provision passed in the final days of the legislative session allows counties to charge cities for some services that they have been providing free.

That’s made the cities hopping mad. But numerous efforts to repeal these provisions before the Legislature this year should be rebuffed.

First, a little history. When the tax-cutting Proposition 13 was passed in 1978, all local government financing rules were changed. Proposition 13 froze property tax assessments, and put the state in charge of how they were disbursed.

Cities, which have more independence, subsequently raised local fees and other taxes to make up these losses. In addition, redevelopment efforts diverted substantial property tax revenues from the county to the cities.

Meanwhile counties, which are essentially arms of the state, have been extremely restricted in their ability to raise revenues.

But that’s not all. While mandating counties to provide services such as health care and welfare, the state short-changed them in paying for these services. Most were forced to make up the differences by cutting local services.

In many counties--including San Diego--the problem has been exacerbated by annexations and incorporations that shifted sales tax revenues to cities.

As a result of these factors, plus the rapid growth in the last 12 years and the attendant increase in urban problems, San Diego County is one of the most fiscally troubled counties in the state.

The Legislature’s decision in September to allow counties to shift jail booking fees and property tax administration costs to cities was an attempt to level the playing field.

The proposal in San Diego County is to charge cities the $175 the county estimates that it costs to book each inmate. The city of San Diego would be exempt because it is building a 200-bed pre-arraignment jail.

The county estimates that it will collect about $3 million a year from the booking charges to help offset state reductions in health service funds.

The county is also proposing to make the fee retroactive to July 1, as state law allows because the cuts the fees offset went into effect then. That could hit cities hard, since they have not had a chance to budget for the fees. Instead, the fees should not go into effect until this coming July 1.

The Board of Supervisors will consider the fee proposal next month. Despite the fact that this will only take from Peter to pay Paul, the board has little choice but to approve the fees. Paul, in this case, is in worse shape than Peter.