The city of Sacramento and advocates for local governments are cheering the passage of a state ballot measure that bans the state from taking or borrowing local funds.  However, the new measure does not eliminate the $4 million the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency owes the state in May 2011, according to the California Redevelopment Association.  California voters’ approval of Proposition 22  on Nov. 2 helps the city while the state continues to face budget troubles, said Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. The state is now looking at a $6 billion budget shortfall during the current fiscal year, said H.D. Palmer, deputy director of external affairs for the California Department o

A prominent supporter of the strong mayor initiative has appealed a Sacramento County Superior Court judge’s decision to ban the initiative from the June ballot. Thomas Hiltachk, the attorney who wrote the initiative, appealed Judge Loren McMaster’s ruling on Monday to the Third District Court of Appeal. In the strong mayor government outlined in the initiative, the mayor would assume the city manager’s powers and create the city budget. Mayor Kevin Johnson has led efforts to put the measure on the ballot. "We expect that the Appellate Court will side with the people," Hiltachk said in a press release Monday afternoon. In December, Bill Camp challenged the initiative in Sacramento Coun