Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Ass'n v. County of Santa Barbara

Opinion

GILBERT, J.

Article XIII B of the California Constitution, also known as Proposition 4, limits the amount of tax revenues a government entity may spend. Section 5 states, in pertinent part: “Each entity of government may establish . . . retirement . . . funds .... Contributions to any such fund . . . shall . . . constitute appropriations subject to limitation . . -”

Here we conclude that the section means what it says, and that a county may not exclude from its annual appropriations contributions to its employees’ retirement fund.

Facts

Beginning in 1985, the County of Santa Barbara had…