Times-Standard

Jessie Faulkner, Thadeus Greenson and Karen Wilkinson The Times-Standard

Article Launched: 01/11/2008 01:27:20 AM PST

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a $141 billion state budget Thursday that would cut government spending across the board to erase a projected $14.5 billion deficit, but could bring dire consequences for the North Coast.

Coupled with a declaration of fiscal emergency, the proposal -- which calls for a nearly 10 percent decrease in education funding, the closing of 48 state parks, the early release of more than 20,000 non-violent prisoners and reductions in health care programs -- has drawn the ire of some in Humboldt County.

Included in the list of 48 parks are Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park about 20 miles southeast of Eureka and Del Norte Redwoods State Park.

State Sen. Pat Wiggins said the governor's proposal is even worse than what he had warned was coming.

”The governor has been warning us for weeks that there would be cuts, but these aren't cuts, they're amputations,” Wiggins said in a statement.

State Assemblywoman Patty Berg, who after the governor's State of the State address said she was optimistic about how revamping the state's budgeting system could lead to innovative solutions, took a different tone Thursday.

”The governor says the system is broken, but then he says we have to live with whatever the system spits out -- even if that means closing parks, socking it to the students and ignoring the elderly, poor and disabled,” Berg said.

Berg and Wiggins aren't the only ones on the North Coast chiming in on the governor's proposal. A local school official said the proposal could have far-reaching consequences. Meanwhile, cuts may not be as drastic as initially feared for the county.

In declaring a fiscal emergency, the governor is required to call a special session of the Legislature to address the budget. If the Legislature fails to approve legislation addressing the state's finances in 45 days, it would be prohibited from acting on any other bills or adjourning until doing so.

But, it was another aspect of the emergency declaration that had the county worried.

A provision of Proposition 1A, which was designed to protect local property taxes, allows the governor to take up to 8 percent of those taxes after declaring a fiscal emergency.

”It doesn't look like he's going to do this,” said Assistant Humboldt County Administrative Officer Stephanie Larsen.

Another concern was whether the county would be reimbursed for the cost of state mandates -- something that has been eliminated through an accounting shift in the 2007-08 fiscal year. But the reimbursements appear to be back for 2008-09.

Several reductions can be expected in law and justice programs, falling in line with the governor's across-the-board 10 percent cuts. The county's rural law enforcement grant is expected to go from $500,000 to $450,000, while Citizens Options for Public Safety (COPS) will drop by 10 percent as will the Mentally Ill Offender Crime Reduction Grant -- funds intended to address the offenders' mental health issues so they won't commit crimes again.

The Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act allotment will also go down 10 percent, Larsen said.

The county also expects to lose $21,000 in Williamson Act subvention funds -- state reimbursements for tax breaks mandated under the pro-agriculture Williamson Act.

One program that has been on the chopping block year after year -- Proposition 42 road funding -- survived the governor's ax. The proposition, known as the gas tax, is earmarked for local roads, Larsen said.

The head of one department likely to be hardest hit, Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services Director Phillip Crandall, was going out of town and was unavailable for comment, department spokesperson Leslie Lollich said.

Meanwhile, it appears the local public school system may not fare as well as the county.

The biggest hit is likely in K-12 education, as the governor's proposed cuts include eliminating nearly $4.5 billion from public schools over the next year and a half.

Normally, K-12 schools receive about 40 percent of general fund tax money under Proposition 98's guarantee. To make the cut, lawmakers would have to suspend Prop. 98.

Humboldt County Office of Education Superintendent Garry Eagles was waiting for a complete budget analysis, but he said the governor's proposed education cuts are a blow to California's future.

”On average, we're talking about a 9 percent reduction off what schools would have been entitled to next year,” Eagles said.

Areas like before- and after-school programs, free and reduced meal programs and staff levels will be hurt, he said. Currently, 47 percent of Humboldt County's public school students are eligible for the free and reduced meal program, according to Eagle's office.

Teachers who currently teach one grade may have to instruct multiple grade levels in the same classroom, Eagles said, as enrollment is also expected to drop by 400 to 500 students next year.

Eagles said that the proposed cuts aren't across the board, as the majority of proposed budget increases would go toward prisons, the California Highway Patrol, the border patrol and higher education.

”I don't quite see the logic in that myself,” he said. “I'm not sure why we're increasing higher education and decreasing the programs that feed higher education.”

And there's no question that people will lose jobs, Eagles said. “When you're cutting 9 to 10 percent of budgetary costs, you're going to have to affect people,” he said.

Wiggins said she fears state education cuts may only be the beginning.

”We will lose millions in additional federal funds because we will fail to meet the standards set by the federal No Child Left Behind law enacted and pushed on us by President Bush,” she said.

For his part, Eagles said he wasn't shocked by the proposals.

”There has to be some understanding that when it comes to education, it's not an expenditure, it's an investment in the future,” he said. “I certainly hope a lot of creative minds come together, we just can't achieve balance by cutting.”

Once optimistic that the budget crisis, while painful, would bring a new opportunity to map California's future, Berg's statement suggested that governor's proposal does not realize that potential.

”We have real problems, but this is an overly pessimistic solution,” she said. “This budget is asking us to abandon our values.”

Local state parks face closure

As a part of his proposal for erasing a $14.5 billion projected budget deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recommended the closure of 48 state parks, including Humboldt County's own Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park.

Sitting about 20 miles southeast of Eureka, the park offers 30 campsites and a place to swim, hike, fish and picnic, according to the park Web site. Nestled near the Van Duzen River, the several-acre park includes 4.5 miles of hiking trails through redwood groves.

Farther north, Del Norte Redwoods State Park was also on the governor's list of suggested closures