While state and city officials throughout California gear up to dealwith serious budget shortfalls, officials are gearing for action. Surprisingly, the Republican governor of California and theDemocratic mayor of San Francisco are taking not dissimilarapproaches.
When Gov.Arnold Schwarzenegger issued Executive Order S-16-08 onDecember 19, 2008, he effectively ordered all state employees whose paycheck relies onthe General Fund to begin taking unpaid "furloughs" for two days permonth. This will affect state employees, but in SanFrancisco, drastic action also has to be taken, to address aprojected citywide budget shortfall. In early December, Mayor GavinNewsom set out a number of budget proposals, including a wage freezefor many local city and state employees in the Bay Area.
The mayor's office reports that the budget deficit for next year is expected to benearly $600 million. By law, San Franciscolawmakers are required to keep a balanced budget. One San Francisco Board ofSupervisors even reportedly suggested a wage freeze for many cityworkers, allowing that such an action could save more than $30 million peryear. That particular suggestions has not appeared to gain muchtraction, though it is not known if the mayor has warmed to the ideaor not.
Like the governor,the mayor has suggested dealing with a budget shortfall by proposinghiring and spending freezes, which have not been specified as of yet,and are still options on the table for the mayor and city lawmakers.Various layoffs have reportedly already occurred.
Like the governor’sproposal, wage freezes for city employees may have success wrapped inboth fiscal and psychological bases. Like President Franklin D.Roosevelt’s many ABC-programs during the Great Depression, someof the budget fixing alternatives offered by Newsom are little morethan window dressing on a crumbling building. Not hiring one class ofpolice cadets will no more save the city than will raising taxesenormously: when the economy is in shambles, you don’t forcethe struggling citizen to foot the bill.
While California creaks and groans under thecurrent financial fiasco, Schwarzeneggerand Newsom both have their work cut out for them, andboth appear to recognize the psychological and fiscal impactof finding and determining the best way to solve the state's dire budget problem.
Wage freezes and minimal firings are theugly necessities that come with a bloated budget that wasirresponsibly created in the first place.
Humans are incrediblycomplex figures, and they need both emotional and physical assurance thattheir elected leaders are working to solve their government’sproblem. Newsom and Schwarzenegger are on the rightpath, though neither has reached the end of their journey.