The Advisory Committee for County Service Area 38 (Pine Cove) held a brief meeting Wednesday, July 9. The committee reviewed the current budget and also agreed to consider the level of its ambulance fee assessment next year as the three-year current contract with Idyllwild Fire Protection District approaches its expiration.
The CSA 38 funds balance was slightly more than $720,000 at the end of May. However, the county still has to deduct about $124,000 for the fiscal year 2013-14 cost of the contract with IFPD.
The expected final balance at the end of June will be less than $600,000.
Total revenues this year are about $143,000, of which the special assessment was $83,500. The balance comes from the ad valorem tax assigned to CSA 38 from county property taxes.
Overall, the total carryover has declined in recent years due to increases in the ambulance contract, noted Bill Brown, Development Manager for the Community Services Division of Riverside County’s Economic Development Agency.
“It’s an incredibly healthy budget and the public should be pleased,” he said.
In response to some questions regarding the quality of service from IFPD and the status of the renegotiation of the countywide ambulance contract, Brown suggested that the Committee consider inviting Bruce Barton, director of the County’s Emergency Medical Services Agency, to speak to those concerns at the January meeting.
Committee chair Jerry Holldber also reaffirmed the committee’s continuing support for 3rd District Supervisor Jeff Stone’s direction to include Pine Cove in the renegotiation of the county’s contract with American Medical Response.
