The cities have attempted unsuccessfully in the past to renegotiate a deal struck in 1988 that sent city property taxes to the county to pay for trial court funding. The reasons for that deal have since disappeared, but the money still goes to the county, meaning the four cities receive a smaller portion of local property taxes than any other city in the state. While cities in California keep at least 7 percent of their property taxes, the four cities get 4 percent or less.

With the county now on board, AB117 goes to Sacramento, where it must be passed by a two-thirds vote before the governor can sign it. If that happens, the city of Saratoga could add an estimated $1.2 million to $1.5 million to its General Fund each year.

Mayor Norman Kline represented Saratoga in negotiations with the county. "It rectifies an issue," Kline said of the vote by the county supervisors. "Their concern was that it was going to take $4.2 million out of their general fund and transfer it to the cities' general funds. The positive note is that they passed it because they want to work with the cities."

Kline said the negotiations had been delicate because the county is currently running a deficit, and county staff was reluctant to give up any money.

Although the county's approval was a big step, Kline said getting a two-thirds vote in Sacramento was still a big hurdle. "There really is no financial reason why they shouldn't agree. We're feeling positive, but it's going to take some serious effort to get it done. We will need to shepherd the bill through the various committees, the assembly and the senate. That means a lot of calling and a lot of legwork." He said he is hoping to get bipartisan support for AB117 and possibly get the bill passed by June.

Councilwoman Kathleen King said county Supervisor Liz Kniss was very supportive during negotiations. "The county staff did not support giving the money back because it would add to the county's deficit, but Liz said right away that she was supportive because it was the right thing to do."

King credits Kline with being the main instigator in getting the county to agree to return TEA funding to the four cities. "I think there's nothing better that Norman and I can be working on. It's about 18 percent of our general fund. In essence, it's what we cut out of our budget this year. This could really help the financial stability of our city. But we still have a long way to go."

Greg Sellers is a consultant hired by the four cities to work on the TEA issue. "In the past they took an administrative approach, having staff deal with each other," he said. "This time we took a political approach and had the elected officials talk to each other. By focusing on the elected officials, we were able to break the logjam. It was essentially a policy decision that elected officials needed to take. Fundamentally, the county supervisors pointed out that it was an issue of fairness."

Sellers said county supervisors have indicated that in return for their support, they would like to see the cities move forward on the annexation of urban pockets and on working more closely on issues of mutual concern.

"It was great to have this issue resolved between the parties, and now hopefully we can wrap it up in Sacramento," Sellers said, "but nothing is actually over until it's done."