chief administrative officer

On Friday May 29, 2019, El Dorado Chief Administrative Officer Don Ashton
released his Fiscal Year 2020-21 Recommended Budget to the Board of Supervisors. The total recommended budget is approximately $647.7 million, which is $87.3 million less than the Fiscal Year 2019-20 budget, a copy of which can be accessed here.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to issue citations to anyone violating the ban on nonessential travel in the Lake Tahoe Basin as it pertains to the use of vacation home rentals (VHRs).

Anyone found using a VHR is subject to a $1,000 fine per day of violation.

PLACERVILLE, Calif. – The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors yesterday unanimously approved the Fiscal Year 2019-20 Adopted Budget to fund the County’s programs and services. State law requires Adopted Budgets to be approved by October 2nd, 2019.

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - The Board of Supervisors will hold a public meeting on June 17 to go over the El Dorado County Fiscal Year 2019-20 Recommended Budget of $688.7 million. This special meeting starts at 10:00 a.m. and will be held in the Board's Placerville meeting room at 330 Fair Lane.

The County's Chief Administrative Officer, Don Ashton delivered the budget to the supervisors and it is also available online for review. State law mandates that the Recommended Budget be submitted to the Board on or before June 30th of each year.

The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors today approved the appointment of Bill
O’Neill as Registrar of Voters, effective January 9, 2019.

O’Neill was most recently vice president of election cybersecurity and consulting for Runbeck Elections Services, Inc., a private sector elections technology, products and services company. While there, he built a collection of new election-focused software products which improved, among other things, the duplicate ballot

During the July 24 El Dorado County Board of Supervisor's meeting, the next phase of additions to the Vacation Home Rental (VHR) ordinance will be discussed.

The ad hoc committee of Supervisors Sue Novasel and Michael Ranalli will be making the following recommendations:

Cap at a maximum of 12 overnight occupants, even if a home has enough bedrooms to accommodate more. The calculation of 2 people per bedroom plus 2. If someone wishes to have more than 12 the homeowner may apply for a conditional use permit.

MEYERS and SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The El Dorado County Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Don Ashton has been making the rounds to communities throughout the county, explaining the budget through an informative presentation and discussion.

Most of the communities Ashton has visited have had 15-20 citizens in attendance, all asking questions and giving input in the budget process as Ashton and the Supervisors figure out how to save $20M over the next four years to meet CalPers pension liabilities.

If you drive through Meyers on a Sunday you've most likely come across gridlock traffic through the neighborhoods as vehicles trying to head west after their South Lake Tahoe weekend look for the quickest route, courtesy of smart phone apps.

El Dorado County Supervisor Sue Novasel held a Town Hall meeting on February 28, providing a forum for residents, law enforcement and staff to discuss solutions. One suggestion that came out of that meeting was put into place on Sunday, March 4 and was fairly successful.

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - El Dorado County has received a $57.14 million loan to build a public safety complex in Diamond Springs that will bring together the Sheriff’s Office operations which are currently spread out across 13 different locations in the county.

The loan is provided through the Community Facilities Direct Loan Program.

There will be three presentations at the next El Dorado County Board of Supervisors meeting on June 20 that pertain to fiscal year 2017-18 budget. They are required to approve it by June 30 each year.

"Every year, the County’s Chief Administrator provides a Recommended Budget to the Board of Supervisors for their consideration," said Chief Administrative Officer, Don Ashton. "It is but one step along the path to having an Adopted Budget approved by the Board in September.”

Presentations are scheduled as follows:

9:00 a.m. – Senior Legal Services
10:00 a.m. – Road Work Plan

When one sees a vacant lot in the Lake Tahoe Basin with a California Tahoe Conservancy (CTC) sign placed on a tree within its borders, it normally that means the parcel will remain vacant.

And in most cases, that is true.

In the basin, CTC owns 4,780 parcels of land totaling 6,400 acres, many of those parcels are about 1/4 acre in size. In the 1980s and 1990s, most of these smaller lots were purchased due to their being deemed environmentally sensitive. If a lot, or a portion of a lot, was once considered to be sensitive, they are permanently protected and cannot be built upon.

South Shore ambulance service has been a hot topic both locally, and across the county with growing concern over the costs and resulting manpower shortage of providing interfacility transfers (IFTs) to facilities outside of El Dorado County.

To understand the recent actions of the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors (BOS), a look at the past year is warranted.

The City of South Lake Tahoe Wants Out of the Ambulance Business

Seven elected officials in El Dorado County submitted a letter of recommendation to the Board of Supervisors, backing Don Ashton for the position of Chief Administrative Officer. The county has been searching for someone to take the top spot after a series of people were in the position. Larry Combs came out of retirement to be the Interim CAO on June 29, 2015.

Ashton is the current Director of Health & Human Services.

Here is the letter sent to the Chair of the Board of Supervisors in its exact original state:

Dear Supervisor Mikulaco:

Interim El Dorado County Chief Administrative Officer Pamela Knorr no longer holds the title of Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), the title she has held since being appointed in 2014. After a closed session of the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, she was removed from the position and Larry Combs was appointed to fill the position.

Knorr will return to her original appointment as the county’s full-time Human Resources director on June 29.

Whole the Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel is undergoing $8 million dollars in renovations, the leadership of the hotel formerly known as "Embassy Suites" is also undergoing renovations.

The resort just celebrated a year of independence in April 2014 and is putting into place a management structure that throws away the corporate mold, and invests in the resort’s front line -- its staff.

The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors conceptually adopted a $587 million balanced budget for fiscal year 2013-14 at a special budget hearing held September 16.

Chief Budget Officer Laura Schwartz presented the numbers to the supervisors. Focusing on the General Fund which pays for many of the county’s discretionary programs, Schwartz highlighted an $11 million increase in fund balance from the initial budget approved earlier this summer. The change in fund balance represents a combination of increased revenue and decreased spending within county departments.