In 1992 and 1993, Gov. Pete Wilson and lawmakers tried to take nearly $2 billion from public schools to balance the state budget. That didn’t work. The state lost a court challenge and had to repay the money, with interest, the Sacramento Bee reports.

In 1991, a budget move involving retired public employees didn’t work, either. The courts made the state pay $1.2 billion, plus $300 million in interest.

California has a long-standing habit of making controversial accounting maneuvers to help balance the budget, only to be hammered in court later and stuck with interest payments and attorneys’ fees.

Budget watchdogs say Democratic and Republican elected officials alike have been guilty of trying money-saving gimmicks whenever the state finds itself short of cash. Often the moves are risky and to the taxpayers’ detriment.

Policy experts agree it’s no way to write a budget.

“The answer is clearly no,” said Fred Silva, fiscal adviser to the New California Network, a nonpartisan fiscal policy group, and a former legislative budget director. “Public budgeting ought to be organized so you reduce the number of threats, so there’s some certainty. This simply adds uncertainty.”

Read the full Bee story

.(registration required)