Amador County – Amador County faces budget losses including a “triple flip” that could take $1.1 million from the county, though that and other issues might be fixable by the Legislature.

Amador County Chief Administrative Officer Chuck Iley said Wednesday that the county budget problem is simple, the county does not have enough money. And most solutions are unknown. He said the county has “been hit in a number of places” by the state budget practice changes.

A change in the designation of the Amador County Unified School District to being designated a “basic aid” district would take money from a “triple flip” that is normally taken from the county and from cities, dispersed to the school district and then given back to cities and the county. Iley said the change leaves “no mechanism to give it to us,” though Legislative action could change that.

The triple flip change will likely cost Amador County $1.1 million, and it will likely cost the five cities in the county a combined $100,000. He said the county is “hoping it will be fixed,” but “right now, we’re looking at losing about $1.1 million in the general fund.

The flip takes vehicle license fees, then returns it through the school system. He said the cities lose their portion also. Iley said “the whole triple flip thing is a big convoluted mess.”

One of biggest losses was about a $900K cost increase in personnel retirement costs, through the Public Employement Retirement System. Another problem was a draw-down of the “cash carried forward from last year.” The bulk, untouched cash totaled $5.4 million as carried forward last year, and now it is down to $4.2 million.

Despite the budget problems, Supervisors did approve $12,500 for the county’s booth at the California State Fair. The funding was approved Tuesday for the Amador Council of Tourism. Iley said the board had set aside $5,000 in the budget for the state fair booth, and supervisors agreed to each put in $1,500 of their district discretionary funds to reach $12,500. The approval was short of the requested $12,800. It includes paying for fair admittance and parking passes for 150 volunteers who staff the county’s fair booth throughout the fair.

Amador Council of Tourism’s Maureen Funk said the booth will give out coupon books and “phone apps” to help show the supervisors the “return of investment” on the fair booth’s effectiveness for encouraging tourism in the county.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.