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!
State
budget
to hurt
county
Joshua Sebold
Staff Writer
jsebold@plumasnews.com
Plumas County Adminis-
trative Officer Jack Ingstad
shared Some thoughts on the
state budget with the Plumas
County Board of Supervisors
at a meeting Tuesday, Jan. 18.
"Right now you know a lot
of people are going to be hurt:
libraries, child support.
"We know there will be
major realignment with some
of the services the county
provides. We know the fair
money is anticipated to go
away."
On the flip side, he said
everything was still very
much up in the air. "The De-
mocrats don't like the budget;
the Republicans don't like the
taxes."
Ingstad reported Governor
See State, page 4A
Vol. 81, No. 10 * Feather Publishing C
INC. SMALL TOWN P~PERS
217 WEST COTA STREET
SHELTON WR 98584-2~83
i p i
d all of the Indian Valley ,~rea
~. 96, 2011
Students take to the ice
5O¢
Plumas Charter School's Indian Valley Academy students revel in the frigid sunshine for
Friday of ice-skating on Round Valley Reservoir earlier this month.
Student Logan Carmicha61 clears a path for skating with his Plumas Charter School's
Valley Academy schoolmates during a fantastic Friday on the ice at Round Valley
Photos sub
CAO has some good news for supervi
ii :~::~ :~ : i~ ~:::ii:~!: i: ~i:iiiii: iiiiiiiiiii 'i:i!! ~.i!iii ~:~ ! ; ~
2010
2011
Change
Property Taxes 4,359,008 4,027,045 -331,963
Sales- ......... 593,862 " r 591,427 - " -~$5
VLF 123,405 113,236 -i'(),169
TOT 757,360 813,547 56,187
Cost Plan 972,062 757,624 -214,438
Cash (on hand fund balance) 2,091,202 1,164,381 -926,820
Spending 5,357,833 5,051,901 -305,931
Revenues 11,307,518 10,290,889 -1,016,629
These economic indicators were presented with County Administrative Officer Jack Ingstad's
mid-year budget report. His take on their significance is found in the article accompanying this
graphic.
Joshua Sebold
Staff Writer
jsebold@plumasnews.com
Plumas County Administra-
tive Officer Jack Ingstad gave
some good news to the Board
of Supervisors while deliver-
ing his annual mid-year bud-
get report on the General
Fund at a meeting Tuesday,
Dec. 18.
Ingstad told the supervisors
that sales tax receipts only
fell by $2,000 compared to the
numbers at the same time
last year, while transient oc-
cupancy tax (TOT) revenues
ors
actually rose by $56,000.
Ingstad attributed thegood
news that the sales ta)~ had
stayed relatively flat to the
efforts of Supervisor Sherrie
Thrall, who was chairwOman
for the last two year.
He said Thrall Was influen-
tial in the recent "buy lo~lly"
campaign and he also poised
the leadership at Feather
Publishing for strongly sup-
porting that message.
In terms of the growth in
TOT receipts, Ingstad praised
Plumas Arts, Plumas Cprpo-
ration, the Plumas CoUnty
Visitors Bureau, local cham-
bers and Graeagle Plqmas
Alliance for their efforts to
boost tourism.
"I think the good news is
we really are in control of
our community to a certain
extent. You can make a
difference here."
sales were truly unique.
"This is not happening all
over California and I give a
lot of credit to the community
(and) community leaders."
He also said the vehicle
license fee wasn't down
significantly.
In these times, o.f course,
all the news can't be good.
Property taxes fell $331,000, al-
though Ingstad said that was
about the amount for which
the county had budgeted.
County Assessor Chuck
Leonhardt said it looked like
the previous budget year was
the worst ever in terms of a
drop in property taxes. He
hoped that indicated the
worst is behind Plumas
in that category, but this
year still featured a similarly
massive drop.
Ingstad also indicated the
cost plan wa~ down, which he
said probably made some" of
The cost plan is the mecha-
nism by which the county
bills state-funded depart-
ments, like those providing
health and human services,
for work done by General
Fund departments.
Basically, if the social
services department uses the
county co~ansel's office to
look at some contracts or has
county technical support
work on a computer, the
General Fund bills that
department~
Ingstad s~id county counsel
wasn't keeping track of its
hours doing that type of
work.
Current county counsel
Craig Settlemire interjected
that the issue was with the
previous Occupant of his
office and Ingstad confirmed
that was the case.
Ingstad continued by saying
BOS votes 3-2 not to renew county waste contracts
Later in the meeting, spending yas down about
Ingstad stressed that t~aese the state-funded departments
local successes in touris~and happy, See Mid-year, page 5A
!
Joshua Sebold audit on its two waste man- a contract to constantly roll surable economic indica' ars. equipment and that's usually seven years.
Staff Writer
jsebold@plumasnews.com
In a split vote at a meeting
Tuesday, Jan. 18, the Plumas
County Board of Supervisors
decided to give its waste
management collection com-
panies notice of the county's
intent to not renew the
current contracts.
This was the first 3-to-2
vote at a board meeting in
months and the action was
preceded by a lively discus-
sion.
New board chairwoman
Lori Simpson opened the
debate by telling the public
the county ordered a forensic
agement contractors in the
prior year, which cost nearly
$33,000.
She said a committee later
discussed the resulting re-
port with the contractors to
look into possible contract
revisions that could be made
to follow some of the audi-
tor's recommendations.
Simpson told the public
some of the main goals for
changes in the contracts
would be to address an "ever-
green" clause the auditor
referred to as "stone age" and
"to make sure that our fran-
chise contractors will get
their increases on time."
A~a evergreen clause causes
over until either side gives
notice of its intent to not
renew the deal.
Essentially the two current
contracts are officiall~¢ re-
newed every year, but this
basically means the contracts
never have an official end
date. They are always at least
five years away from ending
but that clock doesn't start
ticking until notice is given.
Simpson said the other
major recommendation from
the independent auditor was
for the new contracts to in-
clude a consumer price index
(CPI), an equation intended
to automatically suggest rate
increase levels based on mea-
Chester Supervisor Sh
Thrall responded tha
county should give noti(
non-renewal of the conU
immediately because "]
day that ticks by is anc
day that it's extended."
She said the everg~
clause always gave her h
burn, arguing that it, "a
with other parts of the
tract, stifles competition
also stifles any real ince~
on their part to be real fl
other than having to c
before us and beg."
In terms of contract le
Simpson said the cud
advised "there shouh
sufficient time to capit:
;rrie
the
for
'acts
;ach
:her
een
~art-
long
con-
and
~tive
ugal
ome
agth
itor
l be
dize
a seven-year period to five-
year period, and it can go as
long as 10 years."
New Graeagle Supervisor
Jon Kennedy commented
that the public wasn't as con-
cerned about the evergreen
clause but really didn't like
the part of the contract that
"guarantees a 10 percent
profit."
He said that part left no
incentive to be frugal: "You
can do whatever in theory
and not watch your expenses
and have a guaranteed 10
percent profit."
The new supervisor argued
that the contract length
should be even longer than
He contended the county
should use contract length
as a bargaining chip to
get a good deal with the
contractors on recycling to
address California Assembly
Bill (AB) 39, which estab-
lished mandates on solid
waste levels,
Kennedy said other coun-
ties entere~t into 20- or 25-
year contracts when that
law came into effect, allowing
contractors to buy new
recycling equipment at lower
interest rat~. s by giving, them
more securRy, whmh means
lower cost for customers in
See Split, page 4A
Fairgrounds facilities limp along without much power
Mona Hill
Staff Writer
mhill@plumasnews.com
Catering back in business.
The rest of the fairgrounds
is still without power and
likely to remafn so until
sometime after the Board of
Supervisors meets Feb. 8.
Fair manager John Steffanic
expected the supervisors
to hear the matter as an
urgency item at their Jan. 18
meeting. However, County
Counsel Craig Settlemire
said the matter did not
qualify as an urgency item.
When contacted by Feather
Publishing to explain why
the matter was not an
urgency item, Settlemire
declined specific comment,
citing attorney-client privi-
lege. He did however address
urgency items generally in
an e-mail: "The Brown Act
specifies the procedures for
adding items to the board of
supervisors agenda after
an agenda has been posted
('urgency' items), and when
the board can hold a 'special
meeting' or 'emergency meet-
ing' before the next sched-
uled 'regular meeting.'
Relief for the jerry-rigged
power at the Plumas-Sierra
County Fairgrounds is still
not in sight. The fair office
and the Head Start program
had power almost imme-
diately after the outage was
discovered Jan. 10.
Fair staff subsequently
"did a MacGyver" and re-
stored power for the Mineral
Building, putting Back Door
"When all the facts are in
hand as to the extent of the
problem and the action chat
can be taken, the matter can
be taken to the Board for
consideration and action,
either at the next regular
meeting or an earlier special
meeting."
According to Chief Ach nin-
istrative Officer Jack Ing stad
and Supervisor Lori Simp-
son, Settlemire also adv ised
the board the repairs co~ ~sti-
tuted a public works pr(~ject
and would have to follow
legal and procedural require-
ments of the Uniform Public
Construction Cost Account-
ing Act.
According to Settlemire,
the act allows Ingstad or the
directors of Public Works or
Facility Services to authorize
work up to $30,000.
Steffanic, allowing for "in-
formal bidding procedures"
under the act, has received
quotes ranging from $30,0~
to $150,000.
Regardless, the fair has to
have the money available in
its budget fund and the fair
is broke. So any expenditure
for repairs would require a
See Fair, page 5A
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