Amador County – Assemblywoman Alyson Huber’s emergency bill to repair local government financing in Amador and Mono counties has cleared the Assembly and is now being considered by the California Senate.
The bill passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee on a 17-0 vote Jan. 19, and passed in an Assembly Floor vote, 75-0 to be sent to the Senate for committee assignment. It requires a 2/3rd majority for passage. Huber’s Bill, AB1191, would reverse the loss of $1.5 million in property taxes and Vehicle License Fees in Amador County and its five cities.
Huber’s Legislative Director Robert M. Simpson sent notification of the vote and bill status to Amador County Administrative Officer Chuck Iley on Monday (Jan. 30), and said he would keep the county updated. The unanimous passage of the Assembly included 5 non-votes by either abstention or absence.
Seeking passage as an “urgency” bill, Huber’s AB1191 would try to recover “Triple Flip” and Vehicle License Fee funds lost with an Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund change that took about $1 million from Amador County and another $500,000 from the cities, when the Amador County Unified School District declared itself a “basic aid” school district. The declaration kept the funds for the School District, but did not replenish them for the cities and the county.
Sutter Creek City Manager Sean Rabe said Huber’s bill “resolves the property tax situation that is unique to Amador and Mono counties.” He said Sutter Creek likely faces an ongoing loss of about $58,000 in property tax revenue if AB1191 does not pass.
Jackson City Manager Mike Daly said it is a structural fix to legislative code that “takes care of something that never should have happened in the first place.” Jackson lost $96,000 in funding last fiscal year, Plymouth lost $25,000 and Amador City lost $5,000.
Ione proportionally was hit harder than the other cities in Amador County, due to loss of Vehicle License Fees totaling $190,000, in the per capita way the state gives out the fees, based on 7,000 population though more than 4,000 are incarcerated.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
