measure

Another tax. Another agency short funds. Every year someone needs more money. I get it, it gets old. Why didn't they budget better? They have a multi-million dollar budget, why can't they make it work?

We would like to urge voters to vote YES on Measure B.

Our Lake Valley Fire Protection District is vitally important to our daily lives, and their firefighters deserve to have safe equipment and apparatus. They are only asking for $52 per year, which is just $4.33 per household per month. Most of us spend more than that in one trip to Starbucks. Let’s help our firefighters!

The Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce (Tahoe Chamber) has announced its endorsement of Measure B and Measure M on the March 3rd Primary Election ballot. Both local measures address a well-documented need for investment in new equipment.

This letter is in response to Toni Hall and Tom Yant whose letters were printed on 2/14/20 (“Why I will be voting ‘No’ on Measure B” and “LVFPD needs to budget for equipment from its big lard pot”). I want to begin by saying YES on Measure B!

I have to wonder if either of them contacted Lake Valley Fire Protection District with their questions, as their information is misleading and incorrect. Our Fire District is available to talk with you about Measure B (530-577-3737), or you can go to their website (lakevalleyfire.org).

Measure B is up for a vote. I am voting NO because the Lake Valley Fire Protection District spends most of its revenue on salaries and benefits leaving nothing to pay for new equipment.

Dear Chief Alameda:

Here’s my take on Measure B, please correct me if I am out of the ballpark.

Revenue for LVFD for FY 18/19 was $6.8 million/year.

Salaries/wages paid out were a whopping $5.3 million including Overtime: $175,000 and Other Pay including Bonuses: $591,000.

Equipment purchased last year: $77,000.

This year, 2018/19: Equipment budgeted: $22,000.

It is fairly obvious where all the money went: into salaries/wages and benefits.

Dear El Dorado County voters,
A little over a year ago, I was asked to serve on the Lake Valley Fire Protection District’s Feasibility Committee for Measure B. I represented you—the homeowner, citizen, and taxpayer. I would like to share a little about what I learned about the Lake Valley Fire Protection District and about Measure B.

Most importantly, I learned that our Lake Valley Fire Protection District is in dire need of our help in order to maintain their current excellent and top-notch level of service, and to sustain a healthy future.

MEYERS, Calif. - The El Dorado County Department of Transportation (DOT) is asking voters in Meyers and the county areas of South Lake Tahoe for money to replace their aging snow removal fleet and equipment.

On March 3, voters will be deciding whether or not they want to pay $60 more a year via their property taxes to fund CSA3 (from Strawberry to Meeks Bay to South Lake Tahoe City Limits). Measure M, if passed, will supply an extra $540,000 annually for the sole purpose of buying and leasing snow removal equipment. The funds could not be used for salaries, pensions or any other purpose.

The Lake Valley Fire Protection District (LVFPD) firefighters are our friends; they are our neighbors, they are kids we went to school with, they are our softball teammate, and most importantly, they are our saviors in times of need. During the Angora Fire in 2007 some of them sacrificed their own homes to save ours, and more recently they provided vital help and support at the Camp Fire and prevented the oil tanker fire from spreading further than Hwy 50. Our community is safer because of LVFPD firefighters, but these firefighters are not safe in their jobs.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - For some students, there are many barriers to their being able to get a college degree, one of them being affordable child care. A recent move by the Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) is helping remove that barrier by having extended hours on Monday and Tuesday evenings so parents who are LTCC students can attend classes and/or study.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) conducted the first manual snow survey of the season at Phillips Station Thursday, and they found 33.5 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 11 inches. The snowpack at this location is 97 percent of average, with the Sierra as a whole at 90 percent of average.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - It's looking a lot different at the Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe facilities at the former Al Tahoe Elementary School on Lyons Avenue.

The current South Lake Tahoe site for BGCLT had major clearing this week to make way for a brand new clubhouse. Old portable buildings were removed as were some trees as crews make way for their multi-million dollar future home.

The Lake Valley Fire Protection District (LVFPD) will hold a public hearing on October 9 at 4:00 p.m. to discuss a proposed $52 per parcel per year tax to fund needed apparatus, equipment, and supplies. They are going to ask voters on March 3, 2020, for the annual tax increase for fire protection, suppression, and emergency medical services.

The special LVFPD Board of Directors hearing will be held at Fire Station 7, 2211 Keetak Street in Meyers.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Vacation Home Rentals (VHR) in South Lake Tahoe continue to be the hot topic, even months after a measure to ban most of them in the city limits narrowly passed in the November 2018 election. Voters approved Measure T by 58 votes.

The subject has created a big divide in the community and a decision by the South Lake Tahoe City Council Tuesday will not lessen that division though their intent is now clear.

One would think it would be easy to answer this question. However, recently I found that a structure recently completed and to be advertise for rental was approved as a VHR even before its construction which allows 30 occupants, parking for 23 cars and has 13 bedrooms. This property is in a residentially zoned neighborhood outside the "casino core" area.

It is no wonder that residents are becoming more concerned about VHRs. It seems more and more that VHR stands for Vacation Hotel Rental versus Vacation Home Rental.

The City of South Lake Tahoe voters, with the strong support of various areas of our community, overwhelmingly approved Measure P for Recreation, a two percent Transient Occupancy Tax increase to fund a new Recreation Center in 2016. Outreach meetings, design options and thorough feedback were given to and received by the community prior to the 2016 election with the outcome being a facility that will allow for locals, visitors and tournaments to enjoy and capitalize on the Center including:

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The winter of 2019 was a good one for both South Lake Tahoe and El Dorado County retailers, ski resorts, restaurants and others whose businesses collect sales tax, including online retailers selling goods in the area.

The first sales tax report for 2019 has been released, with $2,580,475 in gross receipts in South Lake Tahoe during Q4/Q1 and $11,976,387 in the unincorporated areas of El Dorado County. During the same two-quarter period the year before, tax revenues were $2,390,631 and $9,925,645 respectively.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - It will be a very long day for the City Council and City staff on Tuesday as they hold a budget workshop prior to the start of their regularly scheduled meeting on July 16 at 10:00 a.m.

The public is invited to attend

Their agenda:

1. Call to Order Mayor Laine

2. Public Comment Mayor Laine

3. Draft City Council Priorities Frank Rush
a. Review of priorities
b. Progress to date

4. General Overview of City Financial Position Debbie McIntyre
a. General Fund balance

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - When the City formed in 1965 it was incorporated as a general law city for the purpose of having more local control over public services such as police, fire, and snow removal.

Now there is discussion about changing to a charter city. During their March 5 meeting, Councilmember Cody Bass asked that this subject come forward at a future meeting and Councilmembers Jason Collin and Devin Middlebrook said they were interested in learning more about what the differences are between the two, and what it would mean to South Lake Tahoe to switch.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Naloxone, a medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid and heroin overdoses, is carried on police and deputy vehicles, ambulances and fire engines, giving first responders the chance to save lives. The problem of these overdoses is so widespread most medics and ambulances have administered the medication dozens of times, even in South Lake Tahoe and the surrounding counties.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - One could feel the air let out of a South Lake Tahoe courtroom as visiting Judge Gary Mullen read his decision to the five defendants, their five lawyers and family members in attendance, one that tossed out their request to drop murder charges against all of the suspects in the robbery and murder in 2016 of Dennis Wright.

Judge Mullen declared California Senate Bill 1437 unconstitutional. The bill was signed by then-California Governor Jerry Brown in September 2018 and changed the liability for accomplices to felony murder.

For the past 18 years, volunteers have been monitoring water quality conditions across the Lake Tahoe and Truckee River watersheds, collecting data at a single point in time to better understand the area as a whole. It is a bi-state collaborative that can achieve a larger watershed approach to successful data collection.

On May 17 and 18, 2019, volunteers will once again head out and perform a variety of tests including temperature, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, algae, and nitrogen.

At a price tag of $150 million, the California legislature is considering a bill that, if approved, would change the way the Sierra snowpack is measured each year.

For 90 years the snowpack has been measured at several locations including Phillips, just west of Lake Tahoe. Normally performed in front of media, staff from the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) snowshoe into a spot where they stick a pole into the snow to measure the depth and water content of the snow.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The City Council decided today by a vote of 5-0 to have City staff to start the design process that will allow up to 47 new parking spaces along Bellamy Court in the Heavenly Village area in South Lake Tahoe.