Amador County – The Jackson City Council on Monday passed a resolution supporting a bill by Alyson Huber that would change state law that affects two counties in California, including Amador County.

City Manager Mike Daly recommended approval, saying Huber’s amendment bill is probably most important to the city of Jackson, but all jurisdictions in the county are affected by the tax shifts enacted in 2004.

Daly said Mono and Amador County are the only counties where 100 percent of their school districts are classified as “Basic Aid,” and cannot get funding from any “Revenue Limit” school or college districts, which in other counties are used to “backfill” the loss of property taxes by cities or counties. Daly said the 2004 “Triple Flip” and “Vehicle License Fee Swap” programs are “completely contrary” to the intention of 1992 Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF).

The 2004 laws were written to repay Gov. Schwarzenegger’s new deficit revenue loans, but did not consider a housing market flop, home devaluation or dramatic reductions to the vehicle license fees, Daly said.

Ione was affected more so than other cities, and the county was hit hard too because of the way the ERAF was harder on counties. Daly said Jackson lost nearly $100,000 last year and the current budget omits the same amount of funds. Amador County in total lost $1.52 million. Daly said: “Ione lost $190,000 last year, and their general fund budget is smaller than ours.”

The Amador County Unified School District is not getting any more money than it normally gets, he said. Councilman Wayne Garibaldi said the district is getting Jackson’s money, or the state is keeping Jackson’s money.

Daly said city officials are talking with Huber and Senator Ted Gaines about legislation. Mono County was affected by the funding shortfall a year before Amador and already worked with California State Association of Counties and League of California Cities toward a solution. A fix attached to the state budget failed to move forward.

Huber’s AB 1191 includes language to require county auditors to make appropriations from the ERAF when funds swapped or flipped do not cover missing taxes. Daly said it seeks to restore “an undisputable condition of this maneuver,” the Flip and Swap, which intended cities and counties to continue to receive funding as if the full sales tax and Vehicle License Fees were still in place.

Daly said it “addresses the hole in the promise from the state that was made at the time the Triple Flip and VLF Swap funding formulas were developed.” He said Mono and Amador counties and cities “should not be shorted these revenues that are paid by its taxpayers and received by the same local governments in every other county in the state.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.