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CIP Report — FY 2004/2005 -2 June 10, 2004 <br />Borchard Park, a variety of improvements associated with opening the Dos <br />Vientos Community Center and Park, a new tot lot at Sunset Hills Park, and site <br />preparations have begun to relocate the Conejo Service Yard. Please see <br />Attachment 1 for the Status of the 2003-04 Capital Improvement Projects. <br />Open Space <br />COSCA Rangers have undertaken work to repair and improve trails and <br />trailheads. Additional acreage has been added to the open space system <br />maintained by COSCA, including the 185 acres of the Western Plateau and 4.5 <br />acres on Mont Clef Ridge. <br />Proposed Fiscal Year 2004-05 Capital Improvement Projects <br />Expected Fallout From State Budget, LOCAL Initiative & Governor's <br />Proposed Compromise Initiative <br />Budgeting without knowing the actual impact to revenues is difficult. <br />However, the District is likely to be negatively impacted this year by the State <br />budget more than any year since the ERAF shift of 1992 — the year the State <br />government took significant property tax dollars from local governments. <br />Especially hard hit that year were independent, non -enterprise Special Districts <br />like the Conejo Recreation and Park District. That tax shift continues today. <br />And, although the property tax shift has been ongoing, the State has not reached <br />further into the pockets of local governments — until the current proposed State <br />Budget. <br />Over the past few years, California's financial situation had deteriorated to <br />the point of "crisis," culminating in the recall of a Governor. Meanwhile, the <br />California Special Districts Association (CSDA), League of California Cities <br />(LCC) and California State Association of Counties (CSAC) did not sit idly by <br />while the State's financial picture darkened. Together, these organizations - for <br />perhaps the first time in history — came together to devise at strategy to ensure <br />local government's budgets would no longer be at the mercy of Sacramento; but <br />rather, local governments would enjoy a reliable revenue stream amendable by the <br />voters, not the State Legislature. The LOCAL (Leave Our Community Assets <br />Local) organization was formed to stop the State from taking local government <br />revenues. LOCAL helped craft a statewide Initiative to provide Constitutional <br />protection to local government's revenues. More than one million signatures <br />were gathered and the Initiative will be on the November 2004 ballot. <br />With the LOCAL Initiative on the ballot, local government became a <br />much more significant "player" in the State budget deliberations. The Governor's <br />office met with leaders of LOCAL to strive to reach a compromise. Essentially, <br />the compromise provides that the Legislature would place an Initiative on the <br />ballot which provides equal to or better Constitutional protection of local <br />