Shrinking of the tax base, mainly due to corporate failures and taxpayer reluctance, necessitates increasingly prudent use of funds.
The stock market bubble has exploded, and has left a trail of unfunded mandates. During the market boom, public institutions became increasingly reliant on income and capital gain taxes. These sources have shrunk dramatically, and will not expand any time soon. Simultaneously, the taxpayer revolt started by Proposition 13 has rendered voters reluctant to approve ballot measures that dip into their pockets. The solution is to ensure the delivery of necessary public services, the most important of which is the education of our children and youth, by streamlining budgets. In the case of City College of San Francisco, this approach would mean focusing on preparing students to join the workforce or to transfer to four-year colleges.
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