Fargo attacks governor over budget

Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo took Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to task Tuesday for the lack of a state budget, saying the city is being affected because of the number of state workers who live in Sacramento.

Fargo, incoming League of California Cities president, joined with current president Jim Madaffer in her criticism of the governor.

She also wrote a letter to Schwarzenegger that also warned that any budget plan should leave city monies alone.

"I told the Governor what he already knows: that the City of Sacramento cannot afford to have the state once again seize local revenues, transportation funds and raid redevelopment project funding and still provide the same level of critical services such as police, fire, and street maintenance," Fargo said in a press release announcing the letter.

Mayor since 2001, Fargo is in a tight re-election race against entrepreneur and former NBA All-Star Kevin Johnson. Neither candidate received enough votes in June to win outright, sending them to a runoff on Nov. 4.

Fargo said she supported state Controller John Chiang in his stance against the Republican governor's move to cut state worker pay to federal minimum wage until a new state budget was in place.

Johnson had also backed the move. Chiang, Fargo and Johnson are all Democrats.

But Fargo did back a move heavily supported by Republican legislators: a rainy-day fund that would prevent the need for severe cuts during years when state revenues are down, like now.

"Whether increasing the size of our state's rainy day fund or stabilizing the state's revenues by reigning in out-of-control costs-the Governor appears to be taking a strong leadership role in bringing our state's finance system the reform it needs," Fargo said in the release.