Officials Rail Against State’s Proposed Cuts

Cities and school systems are already desperate and could not maintain adequate education and services under proposed state budget cuts, officials said Wednesday.

Monrovia Mayor Robert Bartlett led city and school officials from Monrovia, Arcadia and Duarte in a rousing chorus of, “We’re mad as hell, and we’re not taking it anymore.”

Bartlett called the rare joint meeting, held at Monrovia City Hall.

“Willie Brown has said the cities are like heroin addicts, dependent on state money,” Bartlett roared about a widely reported remark by the Assembly Speaker. “But I’ve got news for Mr. Brown--we’re not the addicts, they’re the village idiots up there in Sacramento.”

He said he hoped the joint meeting would educate residents and state legislators on the desperate circumstances that local governments will be in if proposed revenue reductions are made. All of the officials at the meeting urged residents to contact their legislators and protest the proposed cuts.

State budget problems have prompted officials in Sacramento to consider $1 billion in cuts to local government. The state has suggested taking away property tax money or motor vehicle taxes that have traditionally been distributed to cities and school boards.

“We’re going to prepare for the worst. We’re trying to cooperate because we realize that cuts in one city are going to impact on the others,” Bartlett said.

In Duarte, state budget cuts would mean the loss of $1.2 million out of the city’s $5.7 million general fund budget, Councilman John Van Doren said. “We spend $2.3 million a year contracting for law enforcement,” he said. “How could we cut that in half? We already have one officer per car.”

School Board President Phillip Reyes said Duarte has already cut bus transportation, health aides, library support staff, field trips, custodians and the gifted children’s program.

“Since 1990-91, we have cut . . . almost $2.4 million out of our budget,” he said. “That’s a 14% cut of the district’s general operating budget.”

Instead of taking funding away from cities for local services, the state should balance its budget by closing $20 billion in tax loopholes and eliminating unnecessary state commissions that are “studying the sex habits of ants,” Bartlett said.

“There are good-paying jobs on a lot of commissions that amount to nothing more than political patronage,” he said.

In Monrovia, the loss of the property tax money would cut 15% out of the city’s budget over the next two years, Bartlett said. That would mean cutting a dozen police officers and the drug-prevention and education program, closing the library 60% of the time, closing the city’s community center and Monrovia Canyon Park five days a week and reducing firefighting services by a third.

Arcadia Mayor George Fasching said all of the city’s recreation budget, 81% of its library budget and 15% of the police budget would be cut.

Fred Purdy of the Monrovia School District said further cuts would mean increased dropout rates and increased class sizes. “I can take no responsibility for what will happen” if school funds are cut again, he said.

“The light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off” if the funding cuts go through, said Joann Steinmeier, president of the Arcadia Board of Education. “This state would never recover from the net effect on loss of services to our kids.”