'Golden State' Is Just A Memory in Calif.; $35 Billion Deficit Presents an Array of Pain
David Rudat keeps running the numbers, looking for ways to lessen the fiscal pain he knows is on the way.</br></br>Maybe he can spare libraries from cuts. But would that wipe out funds for senior centers? He might be able to maintain full police staffing -- but only if he delays road and building repairs. Rudat, who manages Orange's city government, says that almost all of his options look grim. But something has to give in this meanest of budget seasons. Or maybe everything.</br></br>The nation's most populous state is flirting with financial disaster, again. Two years after getting walloped by a long and costly energy crisis, it is now saddled with a staggering, unprecedented deficit bigger than the entire annual budget of any state except New York.</br></br>Somehow, California will have to come up with as much as $35 billion this year to balance its books without tripping up its already wobbly economy, one of the largest in the world. Many other states are trying to close deficits by reducing spending or increasing taxes, but none appears to be facing cuts as deep and widespread, or tax hikes as broad, as those being contemplated here. California's shortfall represents about one-third of the state's annual spending.</br></br>Hardly anyone will be spared as state aid to cities and towns dries up. About a half-million poor residents could lose all or part of their subsidized health care because the state says that it no longer has money. Overcrowded public schools are being forced to abandon plans to reduce class size. At least 1,900 state workers are getting pink slips. Tuition at community colleges may double. Hundreds of nursing homes are threatened with bankruptcy.