An Undeniable Fiscal Truth

Today is the state constitutional deadline for the Legislature to send the governor a budget; even if that rarely met deadline is kept, much wrangling is left to be done before the state has an final and approved spending plan. What may be getting lost in all of the bickering over key budget questions is that Democrats and Republicans no longer disagree about one fundamental truth: The state is in a fiscal crisis the like of which has not been seen in more than half a century.

The budget choices now facing California are gruesome. Los Angeles County is bracing for what could be $1.6 billion in cuts, meaning that one public hospital, 41 fire stations, four jails, eight sheriff’s stations and eight parks would shut down. Lifeguard and beach maintenance services at eight state beaches would be terminated. At a time when one in six Los Angeles County residents receive some sort of government relief, about 200 welfare case workers would be laid off. And the district attorney is talking about no longer prosecuting misdemeanors and about laying off Probation Department workers and eliminating programs that monitor the county’s most violent felons. Even in less-strapped Orange County, officials are predicting that libraries will close on Fridays and warn that two fire stations and a jail might close.

Even if the counties’ intense lobbying in Sacramento save them from these worst-case scenarios, there’s no avoiding the fact that services will be curtailed tremendously. In the words of L.A. County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, “We have to face the idea that some libraries and other facilities will close.”

Setting a state budget is a process of setting priorities, and those priorities are not decided only in Sacramento. Californians must ask: Just how much quality of life are we willing to sacrifice? How much is an open, well-maintained beach with the appropriate number of lifeguards worth? How much is an open, staffed public library worth? California is about to find out.