LAKEPORT — On Tuesday, the Lake County Board of Supervisors may approve the county’s final recommended budget for fiscal year 2019-2020.
In an executive summary of the budget, County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson writes that the county’s response to its declared “fiscal crisis” has led to over $1.1 million in budget cost-cutting.
Huchingson notes that property tax totals are up 2.28 percent over the previous fiscal year, bringing more revenue to the county. She adds that “property tax backfill” over three years will help replace lost revenue that was a result of recent wildfires.
If the recommended budget is accepted by the board, the county’s total budgeted appropriations for the current fiscal year will be $258 million. $85 million and $83 million of that will go toward employee salaries and benefits, and services and supplies, respectively.
Huchingson says the budget is “constrained by minimal increases in revenue which are unable to keep pace with the mandated increases in retirement contributions and minimum wage impact on the low end of our salary scale.”
Changes to the county’s spending since budget introduction in June include the county’s purchase of roughly $700,000 of power generators to prepare for planned PG&E power shutoffs, the initiation of a $1.1 million project to resurface the runway at Lampson Field Airport, and $250,000 in budget transfers to the Sheriff’s office for extra patrol services in Middletown.
Other business
In another item Tuesday, the board will consider an initial draft of an ordinance that would create regulations around the cultivation of industrial hemp. The ordinance would ask for the formation of an ad-hoc committee to consider making specific regulation recommendations.
The ordinance outlines potential rules for industrial hemp that would allow crop destruction if plants’ THC content is too high, declare male hemp plants growing outdoors a “public nuisance,” and require hemp growers who are also growing cannabis to declare they are doing so to the county.
“This is merely the agricultural commissioner’s first draft so there is still the need to define terms and conditions more clearly,” states County Counsel Anita Grant in a memo.
Also on Tuesday, supervisors Bruno Sabatier (District 2) and Moke Simon (District 1) will ask the board to consider bringing a sales tax measure before voters that would be targeted at raising funds for road improvements in the county’s unincorporated areas. According to a memo presented by Simon and Sabatier, costs of bad roads “have an affect (sic) on our residents, on our commercial districts, and on our services that we provide to our residents who live on bad roads.”
How much additional tax such a measure would propose is not specified.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors meets on the first, second, third and fourth Tuesdays of each month beginning at 9 a.m. in the board chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport. Agendas can be found online at countyoflake.legistar.com.
