budget

The Douglas County Parks and Recreation Commission invites the community to review the phased improvements planned for Johnson Lane Park located on Stephanie Way during its Commission meeting on April 7, 2015, 6:00 pm at Piñon Hills Elementary School.

The Parks & Recreation Commission will be reviewing a conceptual phased improvement plan for the Johnson Lane Park. The estimated construction budget for the improvements is $750,000 and will include the following:
• A new playground system
• A picnic pavilion
• A restroom remodel

The South Tahoe Public Utility District Board of Directors will be holding a Board Workshop on Tuesday, March 3, 2015, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the District Board Room located at 1275 Meadow Crest Drive, South Lake Tahoe, California. The purpose of the Workshop is to review the proposed 2015-16 budget and ten-year financial plan for the District.

While a quorum of the District Board of Directors may be attending this Workshop, there will be no action taking place on their behalf. A regular public Budget Board Meeting will be held the May 7 at 6 p.m. in the District Board Room.

Tuesday's City Council meeting will cover a range of subjects, from commission appointments to a look at the Vacation Home Rental Policy.

At the January 20 City Council meeting, appointments were made to all boards but three spots remained opened. One should be filled at this week's meeting as there was one applicant for the Airport Land Use Commission opening. Scott Michal applied and will be appointed if Council believes he meets the qualifications.

In Placerville today the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors unanimously
appointed Pamela Knorr as the Chief Administrative Officer for an interim period of one year. She replaces Terri Daley who resigned after the Supervisors voted to remove her from the position in November, 2014. Daley reached an agreement with the county that paid her nine months of her annual salary of $204,692.

Live music, painting, giveaways and local sponsor and non-profit booths will all be part of the action as the FNCTN Winter Music Series has it's second event of the season. It will be rocking inside the Lake Tahoe Golf Course on Friday, January 23, 2015. Top S.F. Bay Area band Forrest Day and funky jam band Big Sticky Mess will both perform at the clubhouse.

Doors open at 8:00 p.m. and admission is $10 (FREE on your birthday) with affordable drink options available to suit a ski bum budget including Redbull with Tahoe Blue Vodka.

The following is a summary of accomplishments during 2014 by the City of South Lake Tahoe.

Strategic Priority: Fiscal Sustainability
The most important issue facing cities and local agencies is continued steadfast attention to the budget, both short term and long term fiscal impacts.

· Implemented “budget watch” approach to financial analysis; a year-long effort evaluating state, national and global economic impacts for South Shore economy, and capital investment opportunities

Many of us spend January 1 making resolutions and the other 364 days trying to stay resolved to keeping them. In fact, only 8% of people successfully achieve their resolutions, according to research from the University of Scranton. So, here are the top 10 tips for making resolutions and more importantly, keeping them!

1. Set short-term goals for long-term results.

There may be a duel this winter over hotel rooms around Lake Tahoe.

Placer County is interested in paying about $3.7 million to buy hotels from private owners and demolish them in the city of South Lake Tahoe, which is in El Dorado County.

South Lake Tahoe doesn't want to lose the hotels, along with the important associated sales and room taxes.

Placer County wants the hotels so it can open development of new lodging along Placer County's north shore of Lake Tahoe, which hasn't had a new hotel built since 1959.

Many people have trouble managing their own money and balancing their checkbook, but Douglas County is giving all residents a chance the manage the county's money.

This unique opportunity gives locals $500 to spend on the county's six areas identified on their Strategic Plan. They'll distribute the funds on Safe Community, Economic Vitality, Well Maintained Infrastructure, Financial Stability, Preservation of Natural Environment, Resources and Cultural Heritage and Managed Growth and Development.

The Dave Brady for Sheriff campaign claims that “public safety dollars are NOT being spent wisely” by Sheriff Perini. I want to say that I believe that this claim is a clearly false and misleading statement. Here is why. The claims expressed in a recent Brady campaign brochure stated the sheriff’s annual budget had “skyrocked” from $3.1 million in 1986 to $16.0 million. While the raw numbers appear correct, Brady’s analysis and interpretation are very wrong. At first blush the increase seems astronomical and that is what Brady wants you to think.

To Our Community,

Our journey toward Measure F began in May 2013, when Lake Tahoe Community College enacted “Investing In Our Future,” a fiscal stability plan to ensure the sustainability of LTCC for the next 40 years. The first step in this plan was to build a shared vision of the future. In September 2013, LTCC leaders brought community members, faculty, staff, students, K-12 educators, and elected officials together to develop that shared vision.

(http://www.laketahoenews.net/2013/09/ltcc-engages-locals-pave-future-path/)

A special City Council meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 1st to adopt the 2014/215 budget. City Council meetings are always open to the public and the agenda is on line.

The Lake Tahoe Unified School District is renewing their focus on raising the attendance rates of students in the district's seven schools. Not only is being at school essential to a good education, it's also essential to the District's budget.

On Tuesday, the LTUSD Board will vote on a proclamation to declare September as "Attendance Awareness Month." They want parents, students, teachers, staff, administrators and the community to focus on "Every School Day Matters" and help keep kids in school.

During the 2013/14 school year, the attendance rates were:

Bijou - 92.3%

Guidelines for the operation of Bingo games in South Lake Tahoe are to be voted on during the City Council meeting on September 2. In an effort to clean up the city's code, City Attorney Tom Watson has been evaluating and updating all rules in the books, and the Bingo rules are part of this change.

With less than 50% of the Lake Tahoe basin homeowners not complying with mandates to install Best Management Practices (BMPs) on their properties, the TRPA is looking for ways to get people on board.

The proposal being currently discussed is to make BMPs mandatory at Point of Sale for a home as well as discussion of them during the transaction's disclosure process. This discussion at the TRPA BMP Compliance Worksing Group meeting Tuesday brought a packed house of mostly Lake Tahoe real estate agents and brokers.

The El Dorado County Grand Jury has released their final report for the 2013-14 year and several South Lake Tahoe situations have been brought to light.

According to Jury Foreman Neil Cunningham, the jury compiled 20 reports and recommendations which were created as they followed up on inquiries from citizens and Grand Jury required inspections.

A special Lake Tahoe Unified School Board meeting will be held on June 20 in order for them to present their Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP)and Proposed 2014/15 Budget and receive public comment. Per Education Code guidelines, these items can only be approved once the public has time to comment.

At the last school board meeting on June 10 there were no comments.

Paid Parking Is A User Fee

There are many people in this community that want to see more positive changes made. Those include bike paths, road repair or replacement, more public art, a BMX track, improvements at the Skate Park and other recreational areas. They want more events at Lakeview Commons, like the summer concert series, which the City helps support for the locals and visitors alike. They like the upgrades around Harrison Avenue and free parking lot being built next to the Tribune building. All of these pull millions from the City’s General Fund.

South Tahoe Now sent a questionnaire out to all of the candidates for El Dorado County Supervisor and Douglas County Sheriff. This is the last of the submitted responses. Candidates Sue Novasel, Kenny Curtzwiler and Angela Swanson were the only County Supervisor candidates to respond, and Douglas County Sheriff candidates Ron Pierini and Dave Brady were the only Sheriff candidates to respond. We thank those that took the time to reply.

1) What do you see as the Number 1 issue facing residents of District 5?

The LTUSD Board gets out of the board room and into the schools Tuesday as they have their Annual Student Lunch meeting. They will have lunch with about 20 selected students at South Tahoe High in the new Student Union. The students are a cross section of seniors who will be sharing their thoughts with the board.

The following is an opinion article and does not necessarily reflect the views of South Tahoe Now:

The first El Dorado Supervisor Candidate's Forum held in the Tahoe basin this election season was held Tuesday night.

With the June 3rd election just a few weeks away, this was a great opportunity for voters to become informed on the candidate's views on a myriad of topics from teamwork and cooperation to economic vitality and mental health issues.

City Manager Nancy Kerry today announced the selection of Mark Carlson as Administrative Services Director. Mr. Carlson is anticipated to begin his service with the City in early April.

"Its not often you can come to City Council and look back to see how we got where we are today with such incredibly great news in such a short time," said South Lake Tahoe City Manager Nancy Kerry during Tuesday's City Council meeting.

Kerry highlighted the path the city has been on over the last 12 years, from the years leading to the recession, what happened during the recession, and where the city is headed now that there is a net positive cash flow of over $1,000,000.