At the Front of Defending Our Cities

LOS ALAMITOS — Talk about a thankless job. As president of the League of California Cities, Ronald Bates starts many of his days catching flights to Sacramento where he lobbies on behalf of the state’s 471 cities. And he does it for free.

The league only pays expenses for the 50-year-old Los Alamitos city councilman who in January put his finance and management consulting career on hold to make lobbying his full-time job for the remainder of the year. He jokes that when he’s done he’ll have finished his community service quota for a lifetime.

Bates has been supporting his family with his savings and investments, and it hasn’t been easy being away from his wife and teenage daughters. But Bates feels strongly that cities are being stripped of their clout and their money.

“Every time the state has a problem, it comes looking to cities and counties to take their money to balance the state budget,” Bates said. “It’s not fair.”

The League of California Cities is an organization made up of mayors and council members that lobbies for laws and policies that benefit cities, and advocates local control.

Bates said his main goal is reforming the state’s financial structure, which he quips dates back to the “horse-and-buggy” days. One of the league’s biggest gripes is $3.6 billion in property tax revenue the state seized from city coffers in recent years to fund schools.

The loss of that money meant cities statewide were forced to cut or eliminate services provided to residents, Bates said.

Bates believes the league’s lobbying efforts can make a difference. Gov. Pete Wilson just last week proposed a plan that would return $100 million to California’s ailing cities.

“Certainly it’s not enough but at least it is a recognition cities are hurting, that the state took too much property tax away from us and they need to give it back,” Bates said. “The governor is hearing us now and understanding that it is an issue for us. Last year, we couldn’t even get his attention.”

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Bates most recently spent time in Sacramento lobbying for AB 95, proposed legislation that would limit the amount of local tax funds that could be seized by the state. The legislation would also gradually reduce that amount over time, Bates said.

Bates, who has served as the city manager of Buena Park, the assistant city manager of Anaheim and budget director for Orange County, gets high marks from many Orange County officials--even those who dislike the league.

“He has given this position 100% of his time, and it is a 100% commitment,” said Fountain Valley City Councilwoman Laurann Cook, who heads the league’s Orange County division. “Very infrequently can you find someone to do a job when there is no compensation.”

Of California’s 471 cities, only one--Garden Grove--has turned its back on the league, mainly for philosophical reasons.

Garden Grove Councilman Mark Leyes said the league doesn’t push for enough local control, allowing elected city officials to make decisions about issues that should be left to the taxpayers.

“It’s almost as if they don’t trust their own constituents,” Leyes said.

Bates response: “It’s an issue of representative government versus pure democracy. Over time, we are switching to more pure democracy where everyone can vote all the time. The rationale [of representative government] is you elect people who can spend the time to research the issues and make decisions on them. As society gets more complex, the need for that gets greater.”

He tells of incident after incident where state legislators tamper with local issues that are none of their business, and how cities suffer from their inability to control their own fiscal fate.

“Accountability has been lost and people have lost confidence in government,” Bates said.

In El Centro, officials have accused the state of taking so much of its property tax money that it cannot afford to keep park lawns mowed--a job that residents have since assumed, Bates said. In another city in Northern California, officials are considering selling their parks because they can’t afford the upkeep, he said.

As a minor example, he offered that the Legislature insists on regulating newspaper racks outside liquor stores. On a more critical issue, Bates said legislators have refused to adequately include city representatives in discussions about welfare reform--even though cites will bear the burden as an estimated 700,000 people come off the welfare rolls in the next two years.

“In our opinion, those are not matters of state concern, they are local issues,” Bates said. “We feel the people closest to the problem and their council members are the ones who can best make those determinations.”

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Profile: Ronald Bates

Positions: Third-term Los Alamitos city councilman; president, League of California Cities

Age: 50

Hometown: Pico Rivera

Residence: Los Alamitos

Education: Doctorate in public administration, USC

Background: Began career in government in 1968 after he graduated from college and became junior administrative assistant for city of Los Angeles; Orange County budget director, Buena Park city manager and Anaheim assistant city manager before starting own financial and management consulting firm in 1988

Quote: “The way the state Constitution was written gives a lot of authority to local government to make decisions, make laws, but over time that basic home rule philosophy has eroded.”

Source: Ronald Bates; Researched by LORI HAYCOX / For The Times