Sacramento, CA, USA. California’s new governor has an ambitious plan to turn more responsibility back to the local level. But the locals worry they won’t be given enough money to do the job.

On his first day in office, California Governor Jerry Brown did something nobody can remember a sitting governor doing: He stopped by the offices of the association for California’s counties. He came to win over the counties on his plans to hand them many responsibilities long handled by the state. In exchange for more duties, Brown proposed giving counties more flexibility and the promise of steady, reliable funding.

It would be a reversal in direction from Brown’s last stint as governor — three decades ago — when the state added to its burden by promising to pick up more of the tab for schools that otherwise faced cuts because of voter-enacted curbs on local property taxes. Since then, Brown has become quite familiar with the ins and outs of local government, most notably by spending eight years as mayor of Oakland.