Hydrant service to be extended
The County Service Area 38 (Pine Cove) Advisory Committee met for the first time in nearly a year.
At this point in 2018, the committee was formulating its fiscal year 2018-19 budget. Last week, the committee discussed the status of that budget and began preliminary deliberations over the FY 2019-20 budget, which begins July 1.
Through the end of April, with two months left in the FY, CSA 38 has a balance of slightly more than $400,000, which will increase after the deposit of the May property tax revenues.
Riverside County Fire Department arranged the sale of Rescue Vehicle 23, which added $12,500 to the CSA 38 balance. This unit had been purchased with CSA 38 funds several years ago and was retired when the new patrol was purchased in 2017.
Proposed expenditures for this year total $160,000, of which about $73,000 has already been deducted. These funds paid for a masticator and extraction equipment for Station 23’s new vehicles.
In discussing ideas for next year’s budget, committee members questioned the line item identified as “insurance.” They are asking the county representative for an explanation of its purpose before approving that funding.
The committee does want to continue funding community education and address signs.
Although no major capital purchases were discussed, Chair Jerry Holldber described the Pine Cove Water District’s plans for new pipelines and pipeline replacement along the western portion of Pine Cove. (Holldber also is PCWD general manager.)
He suggested that this work would be an opportunity for CSA 38 to purchase more fire hydrants for those neighborhoods.
Members concurred that $35,000 for 10 hydrants would be a benefit to the community. Half would be installed in new areas and half would replace older and smaller hydrants.
The committee has tentatively set another meeting for June 11, if it has the county’s responses to questions it has asked.
