Wildomar's 3rd Birthday Party Overshadowed By Dire Budget News

As city officials, residents, law enforcement and others joined together Friday morning to celebrate Wildomar’s third year of incorporation, the mood was more fight than party.

Nearly 30 people joined at Wildomar Elementary School to hear City Councilman Bob Cashman give a 3rd birthday speech and to ring the city’s historic bell, but behind-the-scenes talk was centered on as a result of the state budget package signed by Governor Jerry Brown.

At the center of the lost revenues is Senate Bill 89, which was part of the budget package put forth by lawmakers to the governor. Under the bill, city general fund revenue from the vehicle license fee formula would be redirected into a Local Law Enforcement Services Account that was created by the public safety realignment funding bill SB 93/AB 118.

New cities like Wildomar are expected to take the largest proportional hit because they get additional state funding for the first several years of incorporation. Riverside County encompasses four brand new cities – Wildomar, Menifee, Jurupa Valley and Eastvale.

“This is an attack on cities in Republican-held districts,” said Wildomar Mayor Pro Tem Ben Benoit during a brief interview at Friday's ceremony. “Manhattan Beach, which has about the same population as Wildomar, stands to lose just .002 percent of its general fund, or $128,000. We’re losing 22 percent of our general fund.”

Benoit said the city is scrambling to determine its best course of action.

“I see that we have two approaches. One is legislative and the other is we will have to make drastic changes to our city financials.”

Legislators who represent the four new cities in Riverside County sent a letter to the governor yesterday asking him to send back SB 89 for amendments.

There will be a “devastating effect on four new cities within our region and may well result in bankruptcy or un-incorporation of one or more of them,” the letter stated.

Benoit said general fund revenues roll in during the first weeks of August, and with the $1.8 million lop there’s uncertainty. He said emergency meetings are taking place but it’s still too early to say what the precise effects of the lost revenues will be.

“When we first heard the news yesterday, we thought it was a mistake,” Benoit said. “But by about 5 p.m., we knew the governor didn’t make a mistake. It was intentional.”

But the governor made no mention of any oversight in his statement following the budget signoff.

“This is an honest but painful budget that returns California’s General Fund spending to levels unseen since the 1970s,” the governor said. “We’ve cut our deficit by $15 billion dollars and achieved financial balance this year. This is a huge step forward. But California’s long-term stability depends on our willingness to continue to pay down debt and live within our means.”

Yesterday's news prompted , who suggested that 13 counties secede from California to form a 51st state.

Stone, who represents the communities of Murrieta, Temecula, Menifee, Canyon Lake, Hemet and San Jacinto, as well as several unincorporated areas, is largely frustrated with the Legislature's passage of Senate Bill 89, said his Chief of Staff Verne Lauritzen.

As local lawmakers and Wildomar city officials plan strategies around yesterday’s news, Councilman Cashman rang the city’s historic bell Friday and proclaimed, “This bell represents our independence. We’ll make it and we will go forward.”