Southland Poor Are Subsidizing San Francisco’s New Opera House
The state government allocates many billions of dollars annually to local governments throughout California.
In fiscal year 1996-97, the state apportioned more than $44 billion to local governments, much of it going to counties, and close to $20 billion more to school districts. California citizens logically might assume that these funds were apportioned reasonably equitably around the state.
That assumption is wrong. While a substantial portion (but certainly not all) of the educational funds are allocated on a per-student basis statewide, allocations to counties and cities vary greatly. Some cities and counties get a great deal more money from the state than do others, both in absolute terms and on a per-capita basis. Orange County is at the back of the bus.
A detailed analysis of the state’s allocations to the county governments of each of the 10 most populous counties, as well as the state’s allocations to all of the cities in these counties, reveals some stunning inequalities.
For example, the state gave San Francisco (a combined city and county) almost $646 million in fiscal year 1994-95. That is more money than the state gave to Fresno County and all the cities in Fresno County. The same holds true for Sacramento County and all its cities, Alameda County and all its cities, Contra Costa County and all its cities, Riverside County and all its cities, and Santa Clara County and all its cities. They all got less than San Francisco.
Every one of these counties has a larger population than San Francisco. So, on a per-capita basis, the amount of money the state gave to these and the other 10 most populous counties (and their cities) is relatively even less than the amount the state gave to San Francisco.
San Francisco got $858 per capita from the state in fiscal year 1994-95. Six of the 10 most populous counties (Orange, Alameda, San Diego, Contra Costa, Riverside and Santa Clara) got less than half that amount. Alameda County and its cities received, on a per-capita basis, $420 from the state. Orange County and its cities got less per capita, $353, than any other of the 10 most populous counties. Even Los Angeles County (including all its cites) got only $448 per capita from the state.
The situation is no less egregious when looking at the state allocations to the counties for public assistance. None of the 10 most populous counties receives even half as much as San Francisco County does for public assistance purposes when computed on a dollar amount per AFDC recipient basis, or the people receiving Aid to Families With Dependent Children.
San Francisco got $5,004 per AFDC recipient from the state in fiscal year 1995-96. Orange County got $2,074, and Los Angeles County got even less, $2,004.
While it is true that not all the state allocations to the counties for public assistance go to AFDC recipients, this does give some idea of the relative size of state allocations to the counties to take care of poor people. Interestingly, San Francisco residents have the second-highest per-capita income in the state, exceeded only by people living in Marin County.
The reasons for these gross inequalities are several. When the voters passed Proposition 13, the Legislature and the then governor were taken aback, but quickly recovered. The legislation that they passed to implement Proposition 13, Assembly Bill 8, was crafted in such a way as to reward the political allies of the sitting legislators.
In some measure also, AB 8 was designed to funnel state money toward counties that had relatively higher property taxes and to punish those counties that had been more prudent with the taxpayers’ dollars. The fact that AB 8 was unusually complex and not well-understood didn’t hurt the job prospects of retiring legislators, legislative staffers and other aspiring lobbyists in the capital bureaucracy who wrote it, either. But at core, AB 8 and subsequent legislation stand as stark testimony to the impotence of Southern California legislators, Democratic and Republican alike.
Over the years, these gross inequalities have continued rolling on. Republican or Democratic legislature, Republican or Democratic governor, it didn’t matter.
But newly elected Democratic legislators in Orange County (and indeed throughout Southern California) have a unique opportunity to broaden and deepen their constituencies if they can move aggressively to reform AB 8 and help garner a proportionate share of state allocations for Southern California.
As it stands now, poor people in Southern California are, in effect, subsidizing San Francisco’s lavish opera house, ultramodern library and beautifully restored city hall. A good test of Speaker Antonio R. Villaraigosa’s clout, and that of Southern California’s Democratic legislators, will be if they can change this inequitable situation.