State to Issue Mandate Repayments in Early August
$100 Million Total, $73 Million for California Counties, More Possible Next Year
California counties had some extra celebrating to do over the Independence Day weekend, with the news that the state repayment of a portion of pre-2004 mandate debt should arrive in county coffers in about a month. The Department of Finance has notified the State Controller’s Office of the allocation of the $100 million to counties, cities, and special districts for pre-2004 mandate reimbursements.
This Department
of Finance memo includes the
jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction breakdown of those funds. Counties
will get the lion’s share of the funds—more than $73 million,
spread among each county based on the actual amounts owed for
claims submitted. The other $27 million will be split among
cities and special districts. The allocations from the State
Controller’s Office should arrive in early August.
CSAC management and staff are very gratified by the effort from
many of our members to help in advocating for this proposal. Even
when the Legislature had rejected the Governor’s proposal, your
phone calls and emails made a real difference and helped to
secure not only the $100 million initial reimbursement, but the
promise of additional reimbursement should state revenues exceed
budget projections. Working together, counties were able to
achieve an important goal – and hopefully the eventual repayment
of almost a billion dollars in state debt owed to local
governments.