Bipartisan property tax solution closer to reality

Hope is the ability to see a positive future in times of trial. In Stanislaus County, we have not given up hope.

For more than 30 years, county officials and our elected state officials have been working for a solution to a long-standing issue called “negative bailout.” This complex tax issue is most simply explained as Stanislaus County being accidentally penalized on an issue where the state had intended to help us. As a result, the county has lost more than $70 million that could have gone to critical local services, and that number continues to grow.

After Proposition 13 and its enabling legislation passed, the state intended to bail out all counties in California for the property tax they would no longer receive. As a result of a problem in the funding formula that was supposed to help counties, Stanislaus County did not receive bailout money. Instead, it was determined that the county actually needed to pay the state going forward – thus the term “negative bailout.”

All parties recognize this was an unintended consequence of the legislation, but fixing it to get Stanislaus County treated like the other counties has been nearly impossible.

Past and present Stanislaus County Boards of Supervisors have advocated to find a solution. Past state elected officials such as Gary Condit, Sal Cannella, Dick Monteith, Dennis Cardoza, Jeff Denham, Dave Cogdill, Bill Berryhill and others all attempted to find and implement resolutions to this issue. Several bills even made it through the Legislature only to be vetoed by several former governors. But our hope continued, and we fast-forward to today.

We are extremely fortunate to have a united, bipartisan delegation of Democrats and Republicans working hard to find a solution to this problem. Sens. Cathleen Galgiani, Anthony Cannella and Tom Berryhill alongside Assemblymembers Kristin Olsen and Adam Gray have united to prioritize this issue and find a solution. They have worked individually and together to find a solution. Other counties only dream about what the citizens of Stanislaus County have – a group of elected officials who are willing to stand for what is right and stick together for a common purpose. We cannot thank them enough.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s May budget revision includes a recommendation to fix the “negative bailout” problem going forward. This is a landmark moment in the history of finding a solution.

We are extremely appreciative of Brown and Director of Finance Michael Cohen for making this a priority. Their leadership has been essential to finding a solution for our county.

We are close, but not out of the woods. In the fickle world of politics in Sacramento, it will take all the strength of our team and the Governor’s Office to get this resolution through to the finish line during the budget process, which ends June 15.

But, we are more resolved than ever as we get one step closer to leaving this long season of trial behind us.

This story was originally published May 19, 2015 at 11:01 AM with the headline "Bipartisan property tax solution closer to reality."