Ventura County Facing $36-Million Loss From Repeal of Car Tax Hike

Frustrated Ventura County officials Tuesday forecast draconian cuts in government services and jobs should Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fail to pay back lost car tax revenue.

Ventura County would lose $36 million a year if the governor does not fulfill a promise to make up for the loss of money resulting from last month’s repeal of the vehicle license fee increase, said County Executive Officer Johnny Johnston.

The county would face a 50% reduction in nonpublic safety budgets and the elimination of 1,700 out of 8,000 jobs, Johnston said.

While Johnston emphasized that he didn’t believe the revenue shortfall would be that severe, he made clear that there was little room for local governments to shoulder the effect of tax cuts ordered by Schwarzenegger.

“This is not just scare tactics,” Johnston told the Board of Supervisors. “This is something that is so huge that I have to put my face in [front of] the ‘Governator’....”

Schwarzenegger administration officials this week told cities and counties that the state would come up short on car-tax payments already due to them. The state normally distributes the money to the 58 counties and hundreds of cities in California that depend on them to pay for law enforcement, social programs, health care, roads and libraries.

State officials also announced that local governments would get no funds from January through March so the state could refund $600 million to car owners who paid the higher fee this fall.

In Ventura County, the loss will amount to $18 million over six months, unless the state takes action, Johnston told supervisors. The sting would be particularly intense locally, he said, because county funding laws restrict the board’s ability to make cuts to law-enforcement budgets.

Although the county has a $1.3-billion budget, the vast majority must be spent on social and health programs mandated by state and federal laws. That means supervisors have discretion over just $57 million annually, and car taxes until now have comprised nearly two-thirds of that pot, the county manager said.