Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Editorial

Vehicle fee repeal smacks of politics

At the risk of sounding paranoid, we can't help wondering if the state of California is plotting to drive cities and counties out of business. The current stampede to eliminate--or at least dramatically decrease--the state vehicle license fee seems just one more example of the state thumbing its collective nose at cities and counties.

Ever since Proposition 13 gave the state authority to determine how local property taxes would be divided up, cities and counties have been in trouble.

Proposition 13 severely restricted the ability of cities and counties to raise money in their jurisdictions. Then the state began imposing a series of unfunded mandates, and in 1993, the Legislature cut property tax funding to counties and cities in order to balance the state budget.

When the recession hit in the early '90s, the state transferred back to the schools supplemental property taxes it had given cities and counties to help soften the blow of Proposition 13.

Now, the economy is in a boom, and the state is flush. And it's an election year, so Republicans--including Gov. Wilson--are promising to share the wealth with "the people."

There are several proposals to eliminate the state vehicle license fee, and Gov. Wilson is proposing a dramatic reduction in the fee beginning in January 1999.

Although we've heard no hue and cry over these fees, Republicans insist this is a reasonable way to share the wealth. After all, the argument goes, the funds raised by these fees don't go for highway maintenance as most citizens assume. They go to cities and counties.

We're surprised that Assemblyman Jim Cunneen, who tends to vote his conscience rather than play party politics, has jumped on this misguided bandwagon.

Los Gatos stands to lose $1 million, and Monte Sereno officials figure elimination of the vehicle license fee will cost the city 15 percent of its budget.

In Saratoga, whose voters last year repealed a utility-users tax, the vehicle license fees represent the largest single revenue source in the city's bare-bones budget.

Republicans are paying scant attention to the ramifications of this proposal for local communities. Yes, they say, they'll find some other way to fund cities. Perhaps through the sales tax.

Clearly, that's small comfort to a city like Monte Sereno.

What's more, forcing cities to rely even more on sales taxes than they already do will encourage and perpetuate land-use decisions skewed toward retail rather than what's best for the community.

Before the Republicans get carried away with this election-year windfall for the people, they need to seriously consider the impact the action will have in the communities where the people live.

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