State Rules and the County-City Arena: Competition for Land and Taxes in California's Central Valley

Abstract

The vulnerabilities and strategies of county governments in the American intergovernmental system are explored in this study of California counties in the post-Proposition 13 era. The property tax limitations of the 1978 ballot measure have combined with a number of other state fiscal, programmatic, and boundary rules to constrain county finances. The rules encourage cities to pursue growth policies, including annexations and redevelopment, that contribute to county constraints. However, the rules lso provide some intergovernmental tools for counties, as illustrated here by case studies from three Central Valley counties. Employing their land-use powers and ability to block annexations, the counties were recently successful, to varying degrees, in establishing revenue-sharing agreements with their cities