By Mike Gervais
Register Staff
1-20-2009

State budget cuts continue to trickle down to the local level, with the impacts becoming more apparent in Inyo County as department heads begin reducing their budgets and cancelling projects.
The Board of Supervisors today will discuss and possibly approve budget cuts to three departments in response to losing state grant funding.
The Agricultural Commissioner, Parks and Recreation Department and County Administrator are all seeking budget adjustments in light of the state’s financial crisis.
The county Parks and Recreation Department is asking permission to continue spending money from the state grants budget to complete the long-awaited Lone Pine Parks Improvement Project, but, lacking $1.2 million in state Prop 40 grants, the department is also asking to postpone much-needed repairs to the Tecopa Sewer Pond.

Despite a state hold on grant money, the Inyo County Parks and Recreation Department is hoping to move forward with long-awaited tennis court improvements at Lone Pine Park. Photo by Mike Gervais

According to Inyo County Parks and Recreation Director Chuck Hamilton, the California State Pooled Investment Board voted Dec. 17, 2008 to freeze all bond-related payments, including Prop 12 and Prop 40 grants, which directly impacts the Lone Pine Park Improvements Project and the Tecopa sewage lagoon repair project.
The Prop 12 monies were slated for the Lone Pine Park project and the Prop 40 funds were designated for the Tecopa sewage lagoon project.
“The state is withholding $67,900 of Prop 12 project grant funds,” a staff report for the board regarding the Lone Pine Park improvements states. “If we do not execute the board-approved contract immediately it will be impossible to complete the project by March 30 (the deadline for the project). We do have sufficient funding on hand to complete this project. However, with this recent state notification, we may not be reimbursed the $67,900.”
According to Hamilton, the county has set aside approximately $200,000 in the Park Trust Fund that can be used for the tennis court rehabilitation project.
The board must approve that move by a four-fifths vote.
The board will also discuss the environmental and engineering contracts for the Tecopa sewage lagoon repairs.
According to Hamilton, the county has obligated about $100,000 of county funds for that work, “expecting eventual reimbursement from the Prop 40 Per Capita Grant.”
The county is required to complete the environmental review and the engineered project plan of action before March 30 if the land owner, the Bureau of Land Management, is to sign a joint-use land use lease agreement.
“Now that this project has been put on-hold, it is highly unlikely that the county can meet the project completion date,” the staff report states. “If the county does not receive approval to use the Prop 40 funds and does not identify another project funding source, the grant project close-out documentation will be submitted by the term end date of March 30 and the county will lose all project funding anyway.”
Hamilton is recommending that the county move forward with the Lone Pine Park improvements via the Park Trust Fund, and postpone all work on the Tecopa sewage lagoon.   
Also, County Agriculture Commissioner George Milovich is asking for a cost-saving amendment to the weed management budget by reducing revenue in state grants by $107,172 due to the state hold on grants. Milovich is also asking that the board reduce appropriations in the general operating expense by $156,622 and increase appropriations in prior year refunds by $49,450.
Four-fifths of the board must support this move before it can take place.
County Administrator Kevin Carunchio is asking that the board amend the economic development-CAO budget by reducing revenues in state funds by $95,350 and reducing appropriations in the professional and special services budget by $94,350 and advertising budget by $1,000.
Today’s meeting of the Board of Supervisors takes place at 9 a.m. in the County Administrative Center in Independence, adjacent to the courthouse.