California Insider

The controller and the Department of Finance are not always on the same page, mathematically speaking, but Controller Steve Westly is reporting today that state revenues for June were well above the forecasts in the May Revision.

Westly says revenues for the month were $8.8 billion, which he says is nearly 10 percent above the forecast. He said retail sales and use taxes were 28 percent above the forecast (this kind of discrepancy can be a sign of accounting glitches), income taxes were 2.8 percent higher than projected, and corporation taxes were 7.1 percent higher.

For the 03-04 fiscal year, total general fund tax revenues were $75.5 billion, a 9.7 percent increase from the prior fiscal year, Westly said.

More and more local governments are struggling to pay the increased pension benefits they have given workers in recent years.

The LA Daily News, continuing its aggressive coverage of this issue, reports that nearly 1200 retired LA County employees receive pensions of more than $100,000 a year.

The Los Angeles Times, meanwhile, reports that CalPERS has approved plans for at least eight local governments to defer their contributions to the retirement fund in the coming year.