California

California's Local Governments Want State Taxpayers To Pay More, More, More

California local governments of every size are crying poor as they struggle with budget shortfalls.

Steven Greenhut | 7.17.2026 7:30 AM

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(Illustration: Midjourney/Nikolai Sorokin/Dreamstime)

California local governments of every size are crying poor as they struggle with budget shortfalls amid what many officials predictably call a "perfect storm" of troubling economic news, including the end of COVID-19 funds that had propped up their budgets for a few years. As ABC News reported, "From rising costs to slowing revenue, local governments are now being forced to make difficult financial decisions as they work to balance their budgets."

The "difficult financial decisions" caused me to laugh out loud given that, well, local government officials' idea of a tough decision always comes down to one or all of three easy, go-to choices: Raise taxes on their residents, cut public services (especially ones the public relies on the most), or lobby Sacramento for a bailout. If one traces the history of local government spending, one sees the same story playing every few years.

Back in 2019, before the feds sent $600 billion in pandemic relief funds to California's state and local governments, our governments were likewise sounding the fiscal alarms. The California State Auditor that year........

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