Politics

Cox Cautiously Optimistic About Governor's Plan To Shift Services From State To Counties

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published January 5, 2011 at 1:50 PM PST

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox reacted with cautious optimism to Governor Jerry Brown’s strategy of cutting costs by shifting responsibility for some services to counties.

San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox is cautiously optimistic about Gov. Jerry Brown’s strategy of cutting costs by shifting responsibility for some services to counties.

Cox said he’s encouraged the governor is already talking with counties about how to realign government -- to give more local control over services like child welfare and public health.

He said he doesn’t think the governor is asking counties to take on additional responsibility without any money to do it.

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“I think the bigger question is: Are there things that we’re doing right now where the state is siphoning off a lot of money for administrative overhead that could be pushed down to the local government,” Cox said. “ Give us a reasonable amount of money to provide those services, even if it’s at a diminished level.”

Cox said the state should hold counties accountable for meeting standards, and give incentives to counties who go above and beyond expectations. He did not mention sanctions for counties who fail to meet those standards.

For example, he said, San Diego has a higher adoption rate than some other California counties, but still lags behind in food-stamp participation rates.

Cox said one problem could be federal grants that depend on matching funds from the state could stop if the state pulls out of administering programs.

Specific impacts on San Diego will be clearer when the governor releases his budget next week.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.