The U.S. Small Business Administration is offering low-interest working capital federal disaster loans to small businesses economically impacted by the Mountain Fire that occurred July 15 to July 30, SBA Administrator Karen G. Mills said Monday, Aug. 19. SBA acted under its own authority to declare a disaster in response to a request SBA received…

Hemet Unified School District trustees had some good news and bad news about the district’s financial condition at last week’s board meeting. Vince Christakos, Assistant Superintendent for business services, reported the projected deficit for this fiscal year (ending June 30) is $2 million. The district’s reserves will easily cover this amount. “We’re fine the rest…

During this past month, some progress has occurred regarding wildfire funding for the U.S. Forest Service. Congress has taken its first step to provide funding for next fiscal year while President Barack Obama is seeking more money for the current fire season.   Fiscal year 2014-15 Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee…

Citing California’s five-year drought, Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order making some of the state’s temporary water restrictions permanent. Permanently banned are wasteful practices such as hosing off driveways and washing cars with hoses that lack shut-off nozzles. The governor credited Californians with having accomplished significant water conservation, saving 1.3-million-acre-feet of water from June…

Public safety and education in jeopardy Gov. Jerry Brown announced his proposed 2012-13 budget last week. The $92.5 billion budget is balanced and could produce a $1.1 million surplus for future reserves. Both the projections and plan are delicately balanced on the assumption that state voters will approve his proposed tax increases on upper-bracket taxpayers…