1.1M signatures gathered

Government officials from various Orange County cities gathered Thursday at Santa Ana City Hall to announce that enough signatures had been collected for a ballot measure that would block Sacramento from withholding or diverting taxes slated for cities and counties and using them to fund state programs.

More than 1.1 million signatures were collected to qualify the Local Taxpayers, Public Safety and Transportation Act of 2010 for the November ballot, said Tony Cardenas, public affairs regional manager for the Orange County division of the League of California Cities.

“This is a very real, tangible solution. There’s no turning back,” Cardenas said. “It’s a solution to the ongoing raids, to the ongoing borrowing and ongoing deferment of local revenues that belong to cities, counties and special districts.

If passed, the act would amend the state Constitution and close loopholes that allow the state to borrow or take away funds that are collected by local governments, Cardenas said.

In February, the Costa Mesa City Council joined the effort when it unanimously adopted a resolution to support the act. And although this is a statewide initiative, Orange County has been at the forefront, collecting about 90,000 signatures alone.

The measure will directly impact services in Costa Mesa, said Mayor Allan Mansoor, who did not attend the news conference.

“It would protect taxpayers by making sure local tax dollars stay in our community instead of it going to the fiscal black hole in Sacramento,” Mansoor said. “By keeping it local, it would preserve not only local control, but accountability to taxpayers as well.”

In the next two days, the League of California Cities plans to distribute the signatures to county registrar offices statewide, Cardenas said.

“Our message is extremely simple,” he said. “It’s local control over our local tax dollars. So we’re not taking one dime from the state’s money this doesn’t impact the state’s general funds. This is protecting the local taxes that have already been passed by voters, whether it’s taxes for transportation purposes like Measure M, whether it’s funding for local police and fire safety services, all the parks and recreation, road repairs, all these local services that are provided by cities, counties and special districts.”

Although 2004’s Proposition 1A blocked the state from diverting local tax dollars, it also allowed the state to borrow local governments funds.