​LOYALTON CITY COUNCIL met January 15th when Van Maddox, Sierra County Auditor told “not good news.” After a nine year hiatus of a State auditor, the City needs to pay back $59,809.82 which he told of being broken into three payments of $19,936.61. The December payment had been taken out and the disbursement had been reduced.
Van admitted, “It is my fault; I do the work.” Mayor Sarah Jackson wanted to negotiate. Van called it “complicated and the tax law” and they couldn’t split it more than three years. Council member Joy Markum called it “upsetting”  over the “County taking a payment before we see documentation.” She fumed that Van “wrote a check to the State that affects what we get.” Van explained the school and cemetery districts should have gotten that money and told of the spread of money of proper taxes between them.  Not just Loyalton, but for a number of districts he admitted, “I made the mistake of overpaying Loyalton for nine years,” and told the Council, “You still have the largest residual coming.” He told of trying to get it repaid over five years but the State wouldn’t let him.
Joy told of getting the $19,936.61 less than usual in taxes and “that hurts us.” Van explained working for the City as he does the County and would need another accountant of his stature to keep paperwork and reports going.
Mayor Jackson said the financial impact of $20,000 a year will “shut the lights off,” and told Van to go back to the State. Joy told of expecting the County to make payments and stated, “It wasn’t Loyalton who did it.” Van explained he was told what to do in repayment by the State Controller.
The possibility of City bankruptcy was discussed with Van explaining all debts would go to him. He’d done research and all bills go to the County and then to water and sewer.
Markum wanted the name and e.mail of the auditor and told Van to “be prepared to advocate on our behalf.” The mayor stated there would be a backup letter to Van’s e.mail to the State. Markum stated, “It will shut us down. That’s reality.” Council member Darlene Riedi moved and Markum seconded to direct a letter.

To: Loyalton City Council
Re: State Property Tax Audit
This last summer the State Controller’s Office performed an audit of the last nine years property distributions (AB8 Calculation). The State audi determined that I had made some small calculation errors and over paid the City of Loyalton.
Although these errors were small in any given year the cumulative effect was the City of Loyalton was over paid from 2019/10 thru 2017/18 an additional $59,809.82. Although the State has no issued a final report they require that these funds be paid back to the other taxing agencies (schools, fire district, cemetery districts and the county)This wil result in the allocation of property taxes for three years will be reduced in the December distribution by $19,936.61.
I am sorry for any hardship this will cause the City. If the City Council wishes I will attend a City Council meeting and answer any questions.
Sincerely,
Van A. Maddox C.P.A.
Sierra County Auditor/Treasurer-Tax Collector
 
To: Van A Maddox, CPA
Mr. Maddox:
The City Council received your December 19, 2018 letter informing the City that the State Controller’s Office determined that you had made small calculation errors that resulted in the City being overpaid from 2009/2010 through 2017/18 in the total amount of $59,809.82. You further informed the City that in order for the County to be repaid, the City’s allocation of property taxes for three years will be reduced in the December distribution by $19,936.61.
The City is disappointed to learn that it has been overpaid, but fully understands the need to repay the County. While $19,936.61 in one year may not be a large sum to the County, it is a large amount to the City. The loss of that much money each year for three consecutive years will cause significant hardship to the City and further strain an already woefully inadequate budget.
The City respectfully requests that rather than requiring the repayment over three years, that it repay the County over nine years, which is the same period of time over which the overpayments were made. Under this scenario the allocation of property taxes for nine years would be reduced in the December distribution by $6,645.54. Please confirm in writing to the City Council that  a nine year payment schedule is acceptable and send the City a check in the amount of $13,291.07, which represents the additional amount the City would have received with the December 2018 distributuion under a nine year repayment schedule.
Respectfully,
Sarah Jackson, Mayor
 
 
 

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Dear Sierra Valley Residents,
Concerning The Sierra Hot Springs Development Proposal
I have read the Draft Initial Study and Master plan documents. I have read them several times.
I have a thorough understanding of 1) scope of the proposed development and 2) its impact, as
described in the documents. While studying these documents I sought to identify benefits to
the people living in Sierra Valley. I found none.
The proposed Master Plan is not by any stretch of the imagination a “reasonable amount of
development” for Sierra Valley and its small communities. I support a right-sized approach, one
that has no negative impact on our air quality, natural resources, traffic noise pollution, traffic
congestion, water quality, wildfire danger, cell phone and internet services.
The Sierra Hot Springs proposal is a large scale self-contained commercial development
project whose goal is to keep all guests inside the Sierra Hot Springs compound for the entire
duration of their stay. With the exception of gasoline and fire protection, everything that a guest
needs will be located inside the Sierra Hot Springs compound. So, not a single guest dollar
will be spent at Sierraville, Sattley or Loyalton small businesses.
Northstar, Squaw Valley and DisneyWorld have a similar business model. They maximize their
revenue by ensuring that most guests remain on-site and spend until their stay is over. The
town of Kings Beach on Lake Tahoe was a thriving community in the 1980s before Northstar
was developed and sucked all the evening foot traffic away from Kings Beach restaurants.
Same thing happened to Tahoe City due to the development at Squaw Valley.
Think about it, Sierra Hot Springs will drain foot traffic from Sierraville, Loyalton and Sattley
because guests that today, patronize our lodging, restaurants and markets, will disappear. They
will eat at the Sierra Hot Springs restaurant, sleep in Sierra Hot Springs lodging and
campgrounds, patronize the Sierra Hot Springs market etc. The only thing missing from these
plans is a gasoline station.
We will not get business from the Sierra Hot Springs 50+ employees either, because they will
live within the compound. And, their jobs are not the type that provide a middle-class lifestyle
where a person can raise a family, buy a car, a house and afford an occasional vacation. No,
these are jobs where you lose your accommodation if you leave. These are jobs for cleaners,
massage therapists, maintenance people, cooks, bus boys, bartenders and waiters. These are
jobs without benefits or a good career path. These are jobs for students from South America
and elsewhere.
And, you can forget about guests leaving the compound for recreation - no, they will be
spending their time and their money on yoga classes, meditation classes and other activities in
one of the 5 new conference centers (misleadingly called workshops in the plans). Dearwater
airstrip will become busier, thus increasing noise and air pollution over Sierra Valley. Private
planes buzzing Sierraville from Dearwater are already a nuisance.
Guests will have lots of accommodation to choose from - the 60 unit hotel, 11 cabins, a
dormitory, the RV/trailer park and the 7.5 acre 150+ person tent campground surrounding
wetlands and sensitive habitat.
As each guest arrives, they will check into the Administrative office, where they will pay Sierra
Hot Springs the appropriate fees for lodging. Guests will buy their provisions at the Sierra Hot
Springs market and deli and fix their meals in the Sierra Hot Springs Communal Kitchen or at
one of the open air cooking facilities in the campground. Many guests will eat their breakfast,
lunch and dinner at the Sierra Hot Springs restaurant which seats 60 people. And, if the
restaurant is at capacity, 40 guests will be seated on the restaurant’s patio for their meal.
So despite looking diligently, I cannot find any benefits to Sierra Valley businesses. What I see
is negative impact to Sierra Valley residents due to diminished air quality, traffic, noise,
increased wildfire danger due to a new high voltage overhead electrical line, propane tanks,
123 wood burning fireplaces and 716+ people driving to the compound, plus massive
disruption due to 20+ years of construction 7 days a week.
I have about 91 concerns with the project. You can download them from shsprings.org.
A self-contained development such as this provides no benefit to Sierra Valley businesses and
residents.
• Surely, it would make more sense to build the 60 unit hotel in downtown Loyalton, which has
an ideal vacant lot for such a building Main Street. This would breathe new life into Loyalton.
• Surely, it would make sense to build 50% of the proposed Conference Room space in
Loyalton, and 50% at the Hot Springs site. Such an arrangement would be terrific for
Loyalton and right-sized for Sierraville.
• Surely, it would make sense to cut the proposed campground in Lemmon Canyon to 20-30
spaces and make it summer-only camping, to avoid the site becoming a ghetto like
Loyalton’s former trailer park. A year-round campground, with a communal kitchen,
communal bathrooms and communal showers and communal open air cooking facility, is
likely to become an eyesore. Loyalton’s trailer park was full of vermin and trash and it still is
not 100% cleaned up.
• Surely it would make sense to use Loyalton’s newly cleared trailer park - and rejuvenate it
and build some sites for trailer parking there - rather than Lemmon Canyon. The City Council
has been thinking about how to use that site.
• Surely we are not going to agree to a 20+ year Development Plan, where we will suffer from
20+ years of construction for 7 days a week. Surely?
Please get your feedback via a letter to Sierra County Building and Planning Department by
their deadline of January 25, 2019. To help you identify the issues that matter most to you and
your family, please read the Draft Initial Study and Masterplan document. You can find copies
on the County web-site and on shsprings.org, where you will also find a document with my
specific concerns about the proposed project and its impacts.
Surely, we can do better than this for Sierra Valley business and residents. Surely we can strike
a balance between our needs and that of Sierra Hot Springs.
Sincerely,
Carolyn Chambers
Sierraville

​LOYALTON CITY COUNCIL held a budget meeting January 8th with Bookkeeper Tracy Smith. It was a grueling process going through every budget line by line reviewing the individual totals and Tracy giving out the total so far this year, last year’s total and the amount, if any, reimbursed. Mayor Sarah Jackson wanted to shoot high and be conservative on figures.
In the Park and Social Hall budget, there was a $1,350 positive balance.
The Fire budget ended with a negative $7,045 and a conclusion that preliminary training for new firefighters should be paid by the City. 
For Highways and Streets, it was alarming how the cost of lights had doubled and Vice Mayor Nancy Rogers was to call to verify the cost of $64,000 so far this year and to check whether SCORE insurance provides training for the boom truck. The City gets a 60% rebate on snow grooming after $5,000. There was a reduction of $815 in the transfer from the General Fund and a final positive balance of $37,187.
The Sewer Enterprise Budget was the last budget reviewed and ended with a $32,141 negative balance. Salaries so far total $36,994 and last year’s total was $73,118 so that total was increased to $75,000. Contracted services was increased to $25,000 after the year’s total with Farr West so far is $24,525. 
The Debt Principal is $122,495; Debt Interest, $100,300 and Debt Reserve is $11,205. The City pays $6,000 a week out of the General Fund to the Enterprise Fund to pay the loan.
Total contingencies was stated to be $129,864.11 and takes a 4/5 vote to spend. 
The meeting lasted four hours and the council was praised for its work. The General Fund and Water Budgets will be covered on January 15th at 5:30 p.m. prior to the regular meeting.

​, 
WITH THE FAILURE OF PROPOSITION 6, Sierra County’s Road Fund looks secure financially and according to Auditor/Treasurer-Tax Collector Van Maddox, there are unanticipated revenues in the General Fund. With the implementation of the new property tax system, accurate property tax revenues were not known until late October with an additional $111,663 in property taxes to the general fund and $21,731 in unanticipated Vehicle License Fee funds.
With that news, the Supervisors lifted the hiring freeze, promoted the current Account Technician II in the Auditor’s Office to an Account Technician III,  authorized the Auditor to purchase RTL deposit system for the new property tax system not to exceed $28,000, created the position of Personnel Analyst and combined it with the Safety Officer vacant position to create a full time position with an increase to the General Fund of $23,000. This position would be a Confidential position working for Management with sensitive and confidential information. The Board increased the Board of Supervisors' base salary to offset the elimination of in-county travel costs and also eliminated any potential salary increases through longevities with Supervisor Dryden voting no. Each supervisor shall receive a salary of $3,037.40 per month, except the current incumbent for District 2 who shall receive $3,468.88 per month, which includes two prior longevities and $300 in county travel through the end of his service for the current term of office ending January 2, 2023. The Chairperson of the Board of Supervisors shall receive an additional stipend of $100.00 per month.

​EAST SIERRA VALLEY CHAMBER OF 
COMMERCE met January 4th at the new Larkspur Cafe at 9 a.m. with tasty breakfasts.
American Indian Heritage Day
This new event is being planned by Alan Schumacher and Gus Donowho. This proposed annual event would be a craft fair with speakers and Native American dancing.  The craft fair would be open to all vendors and maybe have Native food. Under discussion was which tribes to contact and arranging meets, yet which Sharon Dryden reminded the group nothing is open on reservations due to government shut-downs.
Car Show June 8th
Chairmen are Mike Welbourn and Terry LeBlanc who reported they’d had 120 cars last year. New member, Paul Cueto, having done graphic work, offered to open a Facebook page for year-’round exposure.
Under food discussion, Golden West Dining will open early that day.
Sharon Dryden suggested raising the registration cost to include an extra large t-shirt that car show enthusiasts like to collect. Paul added, it wasn’t necessary to include a date on the t-shirts.
Tour de Manure June 15th
The ESVCC will participate as usual
Monthly Country Markets Dates:
These Markets are free to vendors and are held at the kiosk across from White’s Sierra Station on Main Street in Loyalton, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
    July 6th will be start-up date to be featured along with the monthly meeting

    August 10th to be held  witha possible American Indian Heritage Day.

    September 7th as a regular market

    September 28th as part of Art + Ag Tour

    October 26th as the annual Pumpkin Carving
Trees on Main Street:
Being State specific, the trees to be replaced will be a derivative of maples. Watering downtown was discussed with President Mike Welbourn suggesting the chamber may have to be responsible for splicing the lines and members may have to volunteer.
County board vacancies
Sierra County Supervisor Paul Roen told of a vacancy on the County Resource Conservation District Board with the Van Vleck ranch in escrow. The position is ag-related and covers up to Davis Lake and Frenchman Lake to Little Truckee Summit. Associate members are welcome, too, according to Roen.
Other vacancies are on the Groundwater District Board.

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As January 1st came and went, so did the implementation of a bevvy of new laws. Here are some that you may or many not have known about. (Spoiler Alert: if you read your Capitol Update religiously last year, then you already know about these new laws!)
-Plastic Straw Ban: At our state's restaurants and fast food joints, plastic straws will not be given with drinks unless directly asked for by the customer. The final language of this bill is much softer, thanks, in part, to the pressure of our CFRW members on our legislators. 
-Kid's Soda/Juice Ban: Similarly, at our state's restaurants and fast food establishments, soda, juice, and flavored milk will no longer be offered with kid's meals unless directly asked for by the customer. Water and unflavored milk will be the default drink given with all kid's meals. 
-Gender X: You now have a third gender option when you register for your driver's license. Male, female, or nonbinary are the new options available to you on state official documents such as birth certificates and driver's licenses. 
-Prepaid Stamps on Ballots: As you may recall, California will be a total vote-by-mail state for the next election, and onward. To make voting even simpler for everyone, the state will provide prepaid envelopes for mailing your ballot back. So easy, a child can do it! 
- California Federation of Republican Women
Nam-Yong Horn, President
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Green America Lauds Landmark State Bill Introduced to Mandate Digital Receipts as Default Alternative to Wasteful, BPA- and BPS-Coated Paper Receipts.
SACRAMENTO, CA – January 8, 2019 – A new bill in the California Assembly would make the state the first in the U.S. to mandate that retailers must offer digital receipts as the default to customers starting January 1, 2022. Customers will still be able to request a paper receipt in lieu of a digital receipt. Reflecting the focus of Green America’s “Skip the Slip” campaign, the bill, introduced by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), will help protect consumers and workers from the toxins that often coat paper-based receipts, while also creating substantial environmental benefits.
“We applaud Assemblymember Ting for introducing legislation that will protect the health of California workers and consumers, while protecting the environment,” said Green America’s climate and recycling director Beth Porter. “Over time, this legislation would prevent millions of trees from being logged for paper receipts, which fewer and fewer consumers want, and which often go straight to landfills. This bill will make California a leader in addressing the impacts of paper-based receipts.”
“Retailers who have adopted digital receipts are already seeing benefits in terms of reduced costs and greater connection to their customers,” said Green America’s executive co-director Todd Larsen.  “Assemblymember Ting’s bill will benefit retailers, workers, and consumers in California, and it will be an important step forward in addressing the increasing impacts of paper-based receipts.”
Green America’s “Skip the Slip” report documented the following national impacts annually of paper-based receipts:

• Use 10 million trees
• Consume 21 billion gallons of water
• Generate 686 million pounds of waste and 12 billion pounds of CO2

In addition, research from Ecology Center estimates 93 percent of paper receipts are coated with Bisphenol-A (BPA) or Bisphenol-S (BPS), known endocrine-disruptors. These toxins are absorbed when people touch receipts and are linked to serious health problems, including numerous types of cancer, diabetes, and reproductive issues. The environmental and health impacts of paper-based receipts highlight the need for retailers to adopt digital receipts.
Skip the Slip highlights cost-effective digital and non-toxic solutions for retailers to protect their employees and customers, and reduce their impacts on the environment, while reducing fraud and increasing sales. There are major companies that have successfully adopted many of these solutions, including Best Buy, Apple, Lidl Grocery, and Trader Joe's.
ABOUT GREEN AMERICA
Green America is the nation’s leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Green America provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses and individuals to solve today’s social and environmental problems. http://www.GreenAmerica.org
MEDIA CONTACT: Max Karlin for Green America, (703) 276-3255, or mkarlin@hastingsgroup.com. Nannette Miranda, Office of Assemblymember Phil Ting,  916-319-2019.

SACRAMENTO - Senator Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado) today was sworn in as an elected Member of the California State Board of Equalization (BOE) during a ceremony held at the Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Building in Downtown Sacramento. The oath of office was administered by Governor Gavin Newsom.

"I am excited to continue serving Californians as a taxpayer advocate," said Senator Gaines. "My new role as a BOE Member comes with different challenges and opportunities, but my number one priority is to ensure hardworking Californians are allowed fair tax policies that create jobs and grow our economy."
Senator Gaines will represent more than nine million California residents living in the 1st Equalization District, which spans inland California from San Bernardino County to the Oregon border. The five-member BOE is a publicly elected tax board responsible for administering Property Tax, Alcoholic Beverage Tax, and Tax on Insurers programs.
"Californians should be treated with respect and fairness when it comes to tax administration. They are tired of being over-taxed, and over-regulated. I pledge to fight on their behalf," said Senator Gaines.

Prior to being elected to the BOE, Senator Gaines served 12 years in the State Legislature as a tireless advocate for California's taxpayers, ratepayers, businesses and families. He fought to protect citizen privacy and led major efforts to bring thousands of new jobs to the state, as well as support critical legislation to strengthen and expand California's infrastructure.

In addition to his life in public service, Senator Gaines is a successful small business owner, having owned Gaines Insurance for more than 30 years. He has been married to his wife Beth since 1986 and together they reside in El Dorado County and are blessed with six children and two grandchildren.
As a constitutional officer, Senator Gaines is currently the highest-ranking elected Republican state official in California.

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Senator ​