Save Your City?

May 25, 2009   

League of California Cities Launches www.SaveYourCity.net to Showcase How a

State Raid of Local Property Taxes Would Harm California Communities  

Contact: Eva Spiegel, (916) 658-8228          Cell, (530) 400-9068 

SACRAMENTO — The League of California Cities today is launching www.SaveYourCity.net as a unique and innovative platform for mayors, city council members and concerned members of the public to tell policy makers how communities will be devastated if the state forces cities to bail the state out of its budget deficit. Anyone can register on the site and submit a video. Each video uploaded to www.SaveYourCity.net will automatically be sent to the Governor and the legislators of the person who submitted the video. More than 200 city officials, business and community leaders and the public have already submitted video testimony to lawmakers and the Governor.  

Since 1991, state officials have taken over $10 billion in local property taxes to meet state obligations, costing cities over $900 million each year. Now state officials are considering forcing local governments to “loan” the state $2 billion in local property tax revenues to help close the state’s budget deficit. This type of borrowing binge to fund today’s budget is part of what got California into its budget mess in the first place. It needs to be stopped if we ever hope to have a responsible budget. 

Cities are facing the same economic stress as the state and have already made incredibly difficult budget cutting decisions to layoff employees, implement furloughs, and slash vital local services, including public safety, youth recreation and senior services. The proposal to use local property taxes to fix the state’s budget woes will threaten the safety of every Californian. 

Visitors to www.SaveYourCity.net will find an interactive forum where they can search for videos relevant to their local community. The Web site also features a form for groups wanting to join the Save Your City Coalition and a tool kit with fact sheets for how budget cuts will affect the affordable housing community, public safety, the environment, labor, builders and business.   

“The League is working on every level to protect vital city services for the millions of Californians who live in cities. We’ve taken Save Your City to the Web because we know how important it is to reach the public with information about threats to their communities. This site is a powerful tool that gives people worried about cuts to city services a way to talk about the real impact a state raid would have on their community,” said League Executive Director Chris McKenzie.  

In addition to the Save Your City Web site, the League has also launched a page for Save Your City on Facebook where fans can get the latest updates on the campaign and network with others who are concerned about the devastating impact a state raid of local property tax revenues would have on their city services.