Assemblyman Guy Houston

Assemblyman Guy Houston spoke today at our local Marketing meeting in San Ramon. He had much to say about the state budget, Real Estate and education. I wanted to pass along some of the major highlights that affect us…

 

The state has a $14 Billion dollar deficit. They will cut the budget by 10%. This 10% is misleading and sounds much more extreme than it really is. Guy Houston explained that the state adds 7% to last year’s programs for what they call “automatic escalators” (adding for inflation for example). So, after adding the 7% and then taking the 10% cut it ends up being more like a 2.5% cut. Very realistic and doable!

 

In terms of real estate, it has been proposed that the mortgage interest tax deduction be taken away. As we all know that CANNOT happen! Most of us write off a significant amount of money every year in interest we pay on our primary mortgages. Please lobby locally!! Us as your Realtor’s will be sure your voice is heard but be aware of what is being proposed.

 

Lastly, regarding schools…with the budget cuts many of us Realtor’s at the meeting asked what will happen with our children’s education. For those of us in the San Ramon Valley School district and many of the surrounding districts, these schools have reserve funds which they are able to dig in to during times like this. Good news for us locally. For more details on Guy Houston’s comments and additional comments he made on Prop 90, closing 48 state parks and the possible bills to be passed regarding financing, please contact me alyssa@dugganteam.com 650-678-5050 or 925-808-9126