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Newsom Called it a ‘Gimmick.’ Now He’s Using the Trick to Lower California’s Massive Deficit

 

With a windfall of cash five years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was doing away with a state budget “gimmick” one of his predecessors relied on to shave about $800 million off a deficit during the Great Recession.

 

The accounting trick, adopted in 2009, delayed state worker payroll from the end of one fiscal year on June 30 to the start of the next on July 1. A decade later Newsom spent nearly $1 billion to end the subterfuge, with one caveat.

 

“If I use it in six years, in a recession, forgive me,” Newsom said.

 

At his urging, Newsom and lawmakers have agreed to use the budget gimmick next year even though California isn’t in a recession.

The tactic is one of several maneuvers Democrats are relying on to reduce a historic budget deficit of at least $37.9 billion by pushing their spending problem forward to another year. [Read more ...]

 

{Source:  LA Times}

 

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