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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said that a Lake County Jail inmate who tested positive for COVID-19 appears to have been an isolated case.
On May 4, the sheriff’s office received testing results that confirmed that one inmate had tested positive after a specimen was collected on April 19, as Lake County News has reported.
It was Lake County’s eighth confirmed case of COVID-19.
The inmate was isolated and has since been tested again, on May 4 and 6. Lt. Corey Paulich said the results of those two latest tests were negative and the inmate is now considered recovered.
Paulich said that, since May 4, the sheriff’s office has been working cooperatively with Lake County Public Health to conduct contact tracing to identify staff and inmates who had close contact with the COVID-19 positive inmate.
Twenty inmates who had close contact have been tested and all had negative results, Paulich said.
“We continue to test jail staff and results that have been received so far have been negative,” Paulich said.
Paulich said that, at this time, it appears the positive case was an isolated one and did not lead to an outbreak or additional cases.
On March 12, the sheriff's office instituted and continues enhanced measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the jail.
Those measures include suspending jail programs and visitation, screening all staff prior to entry to the facility, placing inmates who are in custody for minor offenses on home detention, enhanced medical screening at booking, wearing of face masks by staff, designating bed spaces for isolation and quarantine, and comprehensive regular cleaning and disinfecting.
“We believe this played a significant role in the prevention of additional cases,” said Paulich.
Paulich said the sheriff’s office is working with the jail’s medical provider and Lake County Public Health to develop a plan for ongoing surveillance testing of staff and inmates. Any inmate with relevant symptomology will be tested and isolated until results are received.
He said the sheriff’s office also will be working with the medical provider and Public Health to remove the affected inmates from medical isolation per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations based on “symptom-based strategy.”
To learn more about all the steps being taken to keep everyone in our custody safe and healthy, visit www.lakesheriff.com and explore the Coronavirus 2019 response plan.
On May 4, the sheriff’s office received testing results that confirmed that one inmate had tested positive after a specimen was collected on April 19, as Lake County News has reported.
It was Lake County’s eighth confirmed case of COVID-19.
The inmate was isolated and has since been tested again, on May 4 and 6. Lt. Corey Paulich said the results of those two latest tests were negative and the inmate is now considered recovered.
Paulich said that, since May 4, the sheriff’s office has been working cooperatively with Lake County Public Health to conduct contact tracing to identify staff and inmates who had close contact with the COVID-19 positive inmate.
Twenty inmates who had close contact have been tested and all had negative results, Paulich said.
“We continue to test jail staff and results that have been received so far have been negative,” Paulich said.
Paulich said that, at this time, it appears the positive case was an isolated one and did not lead to an outbreak or additional cases.
On March 12, the sheriff's office instituted and continues enhanced measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the jail.
Those measures include suspending jail programs and visitation, screening all staff prior to entry to the facility, placing inmates who are in custody for minor offenses on home detention, enhanced medical screening at booking, wearing of face masks by staff, designating bed spaces for isolation and quarantine, and comprehensive regular cleaning and disinfecting.
“We believe this played a significant role in the prevention of additional cases,” said Paulich.
Paulich said the sheriff’s office is working with the jail’s medical provider and Lake County Public Health to develop a plan for ongoing surveillance testing of staff and inmates. Any inmate with relevant symptomology will be tested and isolated until results are received.
He said the sheriff’s office also will be working with the medical provider and Public Health to remove the affected inmates from medical isolation per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations based on “symptom-based strategy.”
To learn more about all the steps being taken to keep everyone in our custody safe and healthy, visit www.lakesheriff.com and explore the Coronavirus 2019 response plan.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Around the nation, older adults make their marks every day as volunteers, employees, employers, parents, grandparents, mentors and advocates.
They offer their time, talents, and experience to the benefit of our communities.
For 57 years, Older Americans Month has been a special time to recognize these contributions.
Led by the Administration for Community Living each May, Older Americans Month highlights ways to help older Americans stay healthy and independent.
This year’s Older Americans Month theme, “Make Your Mark,” highlights older adults’ unique and lasting contributions to their communities.
Towards this goal, Community Care Management’s aging services programs help 286 older adults in Lake and Mendocino counties each month to thrive at their highest level of independence.
What’s more, nine of the agency’s 14 Multipurpose Senior Services and Senior Information & Assistance Program staff members coordinating these services are over the age of 60 themselves.
Older Americans Month Program Director Corinne Jones’ path to serving our community’s older adults is featured in the current edition of her alma mater USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology’s Vitality Magazine.
Community Care continues to make its mark on the lives of older adults, both as employer and service provider.
To learn more about available services, contact Senior Information & Assistance Monday through Friday at 707-468-5132, or visit www.SeniorResourceDirectory.org .
They offer their time, talents, and experience to the benefit of our communities.
For 57 years, Older Americans Month has been a special time to recognize these contributions.
Led by the Administration for Community Living each May, Older Americans Month highlights ways to help older Americans stay healthy and independent.
This year’s Older Americans Month theme, “Make Your Mark,” highlights older adults’ unique and lasting contributions to their communities.
Towards this goal, Community Care Management’s aging services programs help 286 older adults in Lake and Mendocino counties each month to thrive at their highest level of independence.
What’s more, nine of the agency’s 14 Multipurpose Senior Services and Senior Information & Assistance Program staff members coordinating these services are over the age of 60 themselves.
Older Americans Month Program Director Corinne Jones’ path to serving our community’s older adults is featured in the current edition of her alma mater USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology’s Vitality Magazine.
Community Care continues to make its mark on the lives of older adults, both as employer and service provider.
To learn more about available services, contact Senior Information & Assistance Monday through Friday at 707-468-5132, or visit www.SeniorResourceDirectory.org .
Certain urgent estate planning issues have arisen during the present COVID-19 health crisis.
These issues concern getting diagnosed by a physician, intubation and the use of Internet-based communication – such as Skype and Zoom – instead of in-person meetings.
Let’s discuss how they affect your power of attorney, advance health care directive and living trust.
If you are incapacitated, who will pay your bills and sign contracts on your behalf?
A broadly drafted power of attorney allows your agent to make decisions regarding your financial, legal and property affairs (excluding the trust) on your behalf.
Oftentimes, powers of attorney are drafted to become effective upon incapacity. Determining such incapacity usually involves one or more physician certificates of incapacity. This means an in person physician’s visit.
Nowadays, with social distancing, such consultations are difficult to arrange. Accordingly, if your power of attorney is effective upon incapacity you may wish to make it effective immediately (i.e., upon signing).
Similarly, with one’s living trust, transfer of control from an incapacitated settlor to the designated successor trustee often requires attaching one or more certificates of incapacity to an affidavit of successor trustee.
Appointing someone as a current co-trustee (now) and authorizing each co-trustee to act independently (without the other co-trustee’s involvement) avoids the certificate of incapacity.
Financial assets (other than retirement accounts) are oftentimes better managed inside of a trust; financial institutions are often wary of accepting powers of attorney.
You may consider either transferring bank accounts into your trust – and so avoid any problems with the bank not accepting the power of attorney – or request and complete the bank’s own in-house (propriety) power of attorney form.
With social distancing, the use of the Internet-based communication platforms, such as Zoom and Skype, is the new normal. You may wish to authorize third parties to accept the use of such internet based communications with any agent and/or trustee representing your interests. This would assist urgent health care decisions being made given that the agent is not able to be present to sign documents at the hospital.
Thus, a written, signed and dated authorization by you allowing third parties (hospitals, doctors, banks, etc.) to communicate and accept instructions from your agents by means of Skype and Zoom and, importantly, your agreeing to hold harmless from any liability such third parties, might enable your agents being able to act on your behalf over the Internet.
Existing advance health care directives do not contemplate COVID-19. That is, health care directives may expressly prohibit the use of any artificial means to keep you alive. That might prevent your being intubated – placed on a ventilator – even though that would help you to recover from a severe respiratory illness.
Accordingly, you may want to sign a new advanced health care directive, or at least to sign a written statement, that authorizes intubation in the case of severe respiratory illness; you may also consider placing a time limit on intubation.
Also, you may want to authorize the use of experimental drugs that might assist in the treatment of COVID-19.
Anyone wishing guidance to address any of the issues discussed above should consult an attorney. Attorneys are assisting clients over the phone and Internet.
Dennis A. Fordham, attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at
What astronomy highlights can you see in the sky in May 2020? Venus, Sirius and the Milky Way.
Many of us are staying home these days, and it's normal to feel kind of cooped up, yearning for wide-open spaces and more distant horizons.
If you find yourself feeling like that, this might be a good time to remember that we're IN space, cruising through the solar system on our pale blue dot, with a vast, three-dimensional universe all around us. And we have an outstanding view!
Now, we often tend to look at the sky as a curved dome above our heads - a sort of real-life version of a planetarium dome, covered in a carpet of stars. But remember, in reality, it's anything but flat. The night sky is the deepest, most open expanse of space you could possibly look into.
Here's a look at what you're seeing when gazing at the sky in May: Looking toward the west in the hour after sunset, here are the bright objects you'll most likely be able to see.
The closest of these objects is the planet Venus in our own solar system, at about 35 million miles from Earth. The next closest is the star Sirius. It's the brightest star in our sky, and also one of the most nearby, at about 9 light-years away.
Several other bright stars in the May early evening sky are a couple, to a few dozen, light-years away. Much farther out is the red giant star that forms the shoulder of Orion, Betelgeuse, at around 500 light-years from Earth.
And although you might not be able to see it, the faint band of the outer Milky Way stretches across the sky here. So when you're looking westward in May's early evening sky, think about how you're looking outward through the disk of our galaxy, toward its outer edges, thousands of light-years away.
You'll get a different perspective looking into the sky in the hour before sunrise. Facing south, the nearest objects are the Moon, at about 240,000 miles away, then Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, at hundreds of millions of miles.
The rapidly rotating star Altair and the star Fomalhaut, with its debris disk and orbiting planet, lie much farther away, at 17 and 25 light-years from Earth.
And the May morning sky also has its own very distant red giant star: Antares, at 554 light-years away.
And finally, across the background, visible under very dark skies is the Milky Way. Here, you're looking into the center of the Milky Way galaxy – densely packed with stars and a supermassive black hole, some 27,000 light-years from Earth.
The night sky that begins right above your own roof is really the shore of a deep cosmic ocean. Here's hoping this brings some comfort if you feel like you need a little space.
Preston Dyches works for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Clearlake City Manager Alan Flora, acting as the director of emergency services for the city of Clearlake, announced the reopening of Thompson Harbor at Redbud Park effective at 8 a.m. Saturday, May 9.
Friday’s announcement follows revisions to the Lake County Health officer’s order easing restrictions on access to Clear Lake for residents of Lake County.
The order does not apply to the Austin Park playground, basketball courts and skatepark, or the areas of Austin Park that are still currently under construction. These areas remain closed to the public.
No person shall enter any closed park or park area. No person shall remain in a closed park or closed area of a park after having been notified of the closure and having been requested to leave by any peace officer or other person so designated by the city manager or chief of police.
“The city is pleased to work cooperatively with the Public Health officer to provide additional recreation options for Lake County residents by reopening Thompson Harbor,” said Flora.
As a reminder, all motorized boats must exhibit the proper quagga mussel stickers and be currently registered, Flora said.
Lake County Water Resources ramp monitors will be at Thompson Harbor performing quagga inspections and selling resident stickers.
Everyone is asked to practice proper social distancing when launching boats.
“Please enjoy the great weather we are expecting this weekend in a safe and thoughtful manner,” Flora said.
Friday’s announcement follows revisions to the Lake County Health officer’s order easing restrictions on access to Clear Lake for residents of Lake County.
The order does not apply to the Austin Park playground, basketball courts and skatepark, or the areas of Austin Park that are still currently under construction. These areas remain closed to the public.
No person shall enter any closed park or park area. No person shall remain in a closed park or closed area of a park after having been notified of the closure and having been requested to leave by any peace officer or other person so designated by the city manager or chief of police.
“The city is pleased to work cooperatively with the Public Health officer to provide additional recreation options for Lake County residents by reopening Thompson Harbor,” said Flora.
As a reminder, all motorized boats must exhibit the proper quagga mussel stickers and be currently registered, Flora said.
Lake County Water Resources ramp monitors will be at Thompson Harbor performing quagga inspections and selling resident stickers.
Everyone is asked to practice proper social distancing when launching boats.
“Please enjoy the great weather we are expecting this weekend in a safe and thoughtful manner,” Flora said.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is already showing itself in major ways in county government expenditures and revenue streams, according to a report to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
County Administrative Office staff along with Auditor-Controller/County Clerk Cathy Saderlund gave the board the update on the county’s COVID-19 disaster response expenses so far along with revenue expense concerns for the future during the board’s Tuesday afternoon session.
While counties everywhere are impacted by the pandemic, “There still is no county like Lake anywhere in the United States that has been impacted by disasters like we have year after year,” said County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson, reciting the litany of disasters beginning with the Valley fire in 2015, and continuing through other wildland fires, floods, the public safety power shutoffs and now the pandemic.
She credited Saderlund for her guidance and coaching of county staff and helping to keep the county “still standing.” Saderlund is helping the county navigate the “tricky” process of filing claims for reimbursement to the government, Huchingson said.
Saderlund presented to the board representative costs that have been identified as COVID-19. “These costs change rapidly, as I’m sure you know.”
She acknowledged that, as Huchingson said, the COVID-19 pandemic is different from previous disasters.
There is a presidential declaration for the COVID-19 pandemic, and the county has been working through the multiple layers of funding mechanisms and the triggers coming from many state agencies, Saderlund said.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Public Assistance funding is giving the county up to 75 percent reimbursement for response costs. Saderlund said that, other than one program, she doesn’t have confirmation from the California Office of Emergency Services that it will give an 18 percent reimbursement to the county to cover the other 25 percent.
She said the state has told her that it will not decide on reimbursements until the disaster is over, and it will be done on a county-by-county decision.
So far, the county has received two grants to address the homeless situation, including $79,511 to the Lake County Continuum of Care, which was advanced to the Hope Harbor warming shelter last month for around-the-clock operations. Another $73,152 is being administered by Lake County Behavioral Health.
Project Roomkey, which is providing funding to put homeless individuals into hotel rooms, requires extensive documentation. The state has offered the county $100,000 upfront to help cover its 25-percent portion, but Saderlund said they’ve received no funding to date.
The Restaurants Deliver Home Meals for Seniors Program is under consideration by local officials, but the county will have to pay for it upfront and seek reimbursement through grants. Saderlund said the county would have a 6-percent share if it can meet all of the reporting guidelines.
Saderlund said the Health Department has received or will soon receive three COVID-19 grants totaling $530,390 to cover salaries and benefits, equipment, supplies and indirect costs, supportive quarantine services and private nonprofit human services for emergency response.
Regarding the actual expenditures to date for COVID-19 response, which includes Public Health quarantine and isolation, Saderlund said that totals $249,147. For Project Roomkey, it’s $104,192. Total costs of resource supplies as of April 28, it’s $101,540.
The federally mandated paid leave, as of the county’s May 1 payroll, totals $284,077, she said. That’s 100-percent county cost, with no reimbursement.
Saderlund said the total transactions and encumbrances to date for COVID-19 are $738,957.
She also reported that of the 921 county employees on the May 1 payroll, 259 employees utilized the federally mandated leave. That accounts for 28 percent of the workforce and 5 percent of that total payroll amount.
Huchingson said that a rough estimate to provide masks to the public in county facilities – as required by board action approved earlier at that same meeting – is $48,000, which isn’t in Saderlund’s costs.
Social Services Director Crystal Markytan said the county has contracted with the Lamplighter Motel in Clearlake for rooms for high-risk homeless individuals under Project Roomkey. They have 15 rooms and now have 10 filled.
Staff reports on sales and property tax impacts
Huchingson said they’re also looking at long-term impacts to see how things develop. Her deputy, Stephen Carter, gave the board updates on key areas of concern, including sales and property tax revenue.
“Our general fund discretionary revenue is very reliant on sales tax collections,” said Huchingson.
Carter said the five-year average for the 1-percent sales tax is $2,726,000, the three-year average is $3,063,000, with $2,790,000 collected so far this fiscal year and two months still to go.
For the one-half percent sales tax that comes through Proposition 172, Carter said the five-year average is $3,032,000, the three-year average is $3,116,000 and year-to-date totals $2,612,000, with three months still not received.
Saderlund said the county’s general fund nondepartmental retail sales and use tax revenues are currently $409,000 under the estimate, with May and June remaining. Due to a delay in sales tax payments authorized by the governor, Saderlund said the county will face a cash flow issue.
Huchingson also discussed state “realignment” funding driven by state sales tax that is expected to “decrease significantly.” Those monies fund critical departments such as Public Health, Behavioral Health, a number of Social Services and public safety programs. The largest draw on the realignment funds is the In-Home Supportive Services program, one of the largest per-capita for a small county.
Until now, these programs have had sufficient funds to pay for these programs. If the revenues don’t come back, these programs would need to face cuts or look to the county’s general fund for support, said Huchingson.
“We’re aware of the concern,” said Markytan, who noted that there are so many things unknown at this time “that it is unsettling.”
Health Department Director Denise Pomeroy said they are monitoring the situation. She said funding has been coming down from the state to support pandemic response, and her department is not relying as much right now on realignment funding.
Another key revenue source for the county that Huchingson said is expected to be greatly impacted is transient occupancy tax, or bed tax, derived from hotels, motels and vacation rentals.
Carter said the five-year TOT average for the county is $595,500, the three-year average is $557,000, with year-to-date funding at $638,000, which Carter attributed to Tax Administrator Patrick Sullivan’s work to collect on vacation rentals.
Saderlund added of TOT funding, “It is pretty volatile and it does vary based on our collection efforts.”
Regarding property tax, an executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom has allowed counties to consider economic hardship for struggling property owners, and the board previously adopted a resolution to allow a process to waive interest and penalties for those who can’t pay on time due to COVID-19 impacts.
Huchingson said property tax is the primary driver of the general fund revenues, and the impact of the waivers may delay general fund revenue. It makes up between 50 and 55 percent of discretionary revenues.
Carter said the general fund gets the bulk of property tax revenue, with other departments receiving a good-sized portion, including the library and road departments.
He said the five-year average is $24,264,000, the three-year average is $24,335,000, with $18,680,000 received so far this fiscal year.
Saderlund said that, because the county is in the Teeter Plan – which provides jurisdictions with 100-percent of assessed property tax value – the county’s property tax revenues won’t show a decrease because they are allocated on assessed value, not collections. However, she’s concerned that delayed payments will impact the Teeter Plan at some point.
For this fiscal year so far, secured collections are only 0.63 percent less than the same time last year. Saderlund said she will continue to watch it closely.
Huchingson said there also is the concern that another COVID-19 wave in the fall could impact December property tax payments.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said he doesn’t think the impact has hit everyone yet. “I think we need to brace ourselves for the impact to happen in the third and the fourth quarter and hopefully we can lessen that blow as much as possible.”
He said he’s also concerned about the Teeter Fund and defaulted property tax sales that originally were scheduled for this spring. Saderlund said she shares his concerns.
Concern for Interest income, pension liabilities
Staff then moved to interest income, which Huchingson said is a smaller but still important revenue source.
Carter said general fund-based interest revenue is $481,500 on a five-year average, the three-year average is $686,800 and $262,500 has been collected so far this year.
Saderlund said the county’s third-quarter interest for the 2019-20 fiscal year is 30 percent less than the previous year. She didn’t yet have information for the fourth quarter, but she anticipated it would look as “dismal,” if not more so.
Huchingson said the primary expenditure area of greatest concern is pension liability. When the stock market dropped early on in the pandemic disaster, CalPERS was hit very hard. While there has been some leveling off since then, it hasn’t fully recovered.
“The economy is very unstable,” said Huchingson.
During the Great Recession of 2008, when CalPERS had lower-than-anticipated returns in the stock market, participating agencies like Lake County were required to pay increased contributions over several years to come, Huchingson explained.
While CalPERS has indicated it is making adjustments and doing what it can to stabilize and fortify investments, and they are encouraging participating agencies not to panic yet, “We just don’t have sufficient information to make a lot of projections for you,” Huchingson said.
Carter, who took part in a recent CalPERS workshop on this topic, told the board that it’s highly likely the county will have to pay increased contributions over a five-year period and then a 10- to 20-year catch up.
“We can only do that so many times, so that’s something we need to watch carefully,” Carter said.
Saderlund said that, with the interest market and huge dips in investments in the CalPERS portfolio, “We know that we’re going to be impacted with our rates. There’s just absolutely no doubt there, and it will probably be on the same scale as what we’ve seen the last time we saw this come up.”
Sabatier asked staff for a quarterly report on the county’s investments, which are handled through the tax collector’s office.
Huchingson also reported that the economic development discussions that the board has planned to have with department heads – an agreed-upon outcome from a board workshop held earlier this year – will start taking place in June.
She said economic development has been a board priority long before the COVID-19 pandemic, and those discussions had been planned to start in April. Now, they will start on June 16, following the board’s consideration of the recommended budget on June 9.
Supervisor Rob Brown said that the pandemic is completely different from other disasters. In those previous events, there had been funding available for the county to respond and start to recover. He warned that it won’t be that way with the pandemic.
There won’t be an offset of good that comes with the bad, Brown said. “This is going to be bad that comes with the bad, so we just need to be prepared for that.”
Email Elizabeth Larson atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
County Administrative Office staff along with Auditor-Controller/County Clerk Cathy Saderlund gave the board the update on the county’s COVID-19 disaster response expenses so far along with revenue expense concerns for the future during the board’s Tuesday afternoon session.
While counties everywhere are impacted by the pandemic, “There still is no county like Lake anywhere in the United States that has been impacted by disasters like we have year after year,” said County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson, reciting the litany of disasters beginning with the Valley fire in 2015, and continuing through other wildland fires, floods, the public safety power shutoffs and now the pandemic.
She credited Saderlund for her guidance and coaching of county staff and helping to keep the county “still standing.” Saderlund is helping the county navigate the “tricky” process of filing claims for reimbursement to the government, Huchingson said.
Saderlund presented to the board representative costs that have been identified as COVID-19. “These costs change rapidly, as I’m sure you know.”
She acknowledged that, as Huchingson said, the COVID-19 pandemic is different from previous disasters.
There is a presidential declaration for the COVID-19 pandemic, and the county has been working through the multiple layers of funding mechanisms and the triggers coming from many state agencies, Saderlund said.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Public Assistance funding is giving the county up to 75 percent reimbursement for response costs. Saderlund said that, other than one program, she doesn’t have confirmation from the California Office of Emergency Services that it will give an 18 percent reimbursement to the county to cover the other 25 percent.
She said the state has told her that it will not decide on reimbursements until the disaster is over, and it will be done on a county-by-county decision.
So far, the county has received two grants to address the homeless situation, including $79,511 to the Lake County Continuum of Care, which was advanced to the Hope Harbor warming shelter last month for around-the-clock operations. Another $73,152 is being administered by Lake County Behavioral Health.
Project Roomkey, which is providing funding to put homeless individuals into hotel rooms, requires extensive documentation. The state has offered the county $100,000 upfront to help cover its 25-percent portion, but Saderlund said they’ve received no funding to date.
The Restaurants Deliver Home Meals for Seniors Program is under consideration by local officials, but the county will have to pay for it upfront and seek reimbursement through grants. Saderlund said the county would have a 6-percent share if it can meet all of the reporting guidelines.
Saderlund said the Health Department has received or will soon receive three COVID-19 grants totaling $530,390 to cover salaries and benefits, equipment, supplies and indirect costs, supportive quarantine services and private nonprofit human services for emergency response.
Regarding the actual expenditures to date for COVID-19 response, which includes Public Health quarantine and isolation, Saderlund said that totals $249,147. For Project Roomkey, it’s $104,192. Total costs of resource supplies as of April 28, it’s $101,540.
The federally mandated paid leave, as of the county’s May 1 payroll, totals $284,077, she said. That’s 100-percent county cost, with no reimbursement.
Saderlund said the total transactions and encumbrances to date for COVID-19 are $738,957.
She also reported that of the 921 county employees on the May 1 payroll, 259 employees utilized the federally mandated leave. That accounts for 28 percent of the workforce and 5 percent of that total payroll amount.
Huchingson said that a rough estimate to provide masks to the public in county facilities – as required by board action approved earlier at that same meeting – is $48,000, which isn’t in Saderlund’s costs.
Social Services Director Crystal Markytan said the county has contracted with the Lamplighter Motel in Clearlake for rooms for high-risk homeless individuals under Project Roomkey. They have 15 rooms and now have 10 filled.
Staff reports on sales and property tax impacts
Huchingson said they’re also looking at long-term impacts to see how things develop. Her deputy, Stephen Carter, gave the board updates on key areas of concern, including sales and property tax revenue.
“Our general fund discretionary revenue is very reliant on sales tax collections,” said Huchingson.
Carter said the five-year average for the 1-percent sales tax is $2,726,000, the three-year average is $3,063,000, with $2,790,000 collected so far this fiscal year and two months still to go.
For the one-half percent sales tax that comes through Proposition 172, Carter said the five-year average is $3,032,000, the three-year average is $3,116,000 and year-to-date totals $2,612,000, with three months still not received.
Saderlund said the county’s general fund nondepartmental retail sales and use tax revenues are currently $409,000 under the estimate, with May and June remaining. Due to a delay in sales tax payments authorized by the governor, Saderlund said the county will face a cash flow issue.
Huchingson also discussed state “realignment” funding driven by state sales tax that is expected to “decrease significantly.” Those monies fund critical departments such as Public Health, Behavioral Health, a number of Social Services and public safety programs. The largest draw on the realignment funds is the In-Home Supportive Services program, one of the largest per-capita for a small county.
Until now, these programs have had sufficient funds to pay for these programs. If the revenues don’t come back, these programs would need to face cuts or look to the county’s general fund for support, said Huchingson.
“We’re aware of the concern,” said Markytan, who noted that there are so many things unknown at this time “that it is unsettling.”
Health Department Director Denise Pomeroy said they are monitoring the situation. She said funding has been coming down from the state to support pandemic response, and her department is not relying as much right now on realignment funding.
Another key revenue source for the county that Huchingson said is expected to be greatly impacted is transient occupancy tax, or bed tax, derived from hotels, motels and vacation rentals.
Carter said the five-year TOT average for the county is $595,500, the three-year average is $557,000, with year-to-date funding at $638,000, which Carter attributed to Tax Administrator Patrick Sullivan’s work to collect on vacation rentals.
Saderlund added of TOT funding, “It is pretty volatile and it does vary based on our collection efforts.”
Regarding property tax, an executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom has allowed counties to consider economic hardship for struggling property owners, and the board previously adopted a resolution to allow a process to waive interest and penalties for those who can’t pay on time due to COVID-19 impacts.
Huchingson said property tax is the primary driver of the general fund revenues, and the impact of the waivers may delay general fund revenue. It makes up between 50 and 55 percent of discretionary revenues.
Carter said the general fund gets the bulk of property tax revenue, with other departments receiving a good-sized portion, including the library and road departments.
He said the five-year average is $24,264,000, the three-year average is $24,335,000, with $18,680,000 received so far this fiscal year.
Saderlund said that, because the county is in the Teeter Plan – which provides jurisdictions with 100-percent of assessed property tax value – the county’s property tax revenues won’t show a decrease because they are allocated on assessed value, not collections. However, she’s concerned that delayed payments will impact the Teeter Plan at some point.
For this fiscal year so far, secured collections are only 0.63 percent less than the same time last year. Saderlund said she will continue to watch it closely.
Huchingson said there also is the concern that another COVID-19 wave in the fall could impact December property tax payments.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said he doesn’t think the impact has hit everyone yet. “I think we need to brace ourselves for the impact to happen in the third and the fourth quarter and hopefully we can lessen that blow as much as possible.”
He said he’s also concerned about the Teeter Fund and defaulted property tax sales that originally were scheduled for this spring. Saderlund said she shares his concerns.
Concern for Interest income, pension liabilities
Staff then moved to interest income, which Huchingson said is a smaller but still important revenue source.
Carter said general fund-based interest revenue is $481,500 on a five-year average, the three-year average is $686,800 and $262,500 has been collected so far this year.
Saderlund said the county’s third-quarter interest for the 2019-20 fiscal year is 30 percent less than the previous year. She didn’t yet have information for the fourth quarter, but she anticipated it would look as “dismal,” if not more so.
Huchingson said the primary expenditure area of greatest concern is pension liability. When the stock market dropped early on in the pandemic disaster, CalPERS was hit very hard. While there has been some leveling off since then, it hasn’t fully recovered.
“The economy is very unstable,” said Huchingson.
During the Great Recession of 2008, when CalPERS had lower-than-anticipated returns in the stock market, participating agencies like Lake County were required to pay increased contributions over several years to come, Huchingson explained.
While CalPERS has indicated it is making adjustments and doing what it can to stabilize and fortify investments, and they are encouraging participating agencies not to panic yet, “We just don’t have sufficient information to make a lot of projections for you,” Huchingson said.
Carter, who took part in a recent CalPERS workshop on this topic, told the board that it’s highly likely the county will have to pay increased contributions over a five-year period and then a 10- to 20-year catch up.
“We can only do that so many times, so that’s something we need to watch carefully,” Carter said.
Saderlund said that, with the interest market and huge dips in investments in the CalPERS portfolio, “We know that we’re going to be impacted with our rates. There’s just absolutely no doubt there, and it will probably be on the same scale as what we’ve seen the last time we saw this come up.”
Sabatier asked staff for a quarterly report on the county’s investments, which are handled through the tax collector’s office.
Huchingson also reported that the economic development discussions that the board has planned to have with department heads – an agreed-upon outcome from a board workshop held earlier this year – will start taking place in June.
She said economic development has been a board priority long before the COVID-19 pandemic, and those discussions had been planned to start in April. Now, they will start on June 16, following the board’s consideration of the recommended budget on June 9.
Supervisor Rob Brown said that the pandemic is completely different from other disasters. In those previous events, there had been funding available for the county to respond and start to recover. He warned that it won’t be that way with the pandemic.
There won’t be an offset of good that comes with the bad, Brown said. “This is going to be bad that comes with the bad, so we just need to be prepared for that.”
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