County Supervisor summarizes district news

By Kevin Jeffries
Riverside County Supervisor, First District

$18 billion increase in valuation

Kevin Jeffries, Riverside County Supervisor

In a world that seems upside down a little too often lately, at least one segment of our southern California economy is not faltering. Peter Aldana, Riverside County Assessor/Tax Collector, reports the taxable value of all property in Riverside County for the current year grew to $320 billion, an $18 billion increase. This year’s tax roll—a list of all taxable property, its owner and its value as of Jan. 1—will generate more than $3.2 billion for local government services, about 20% of which goes to county government.

While those figures are based on property values pre-COVID-19, the other good news is that according to the Realtor’s Association, median home prices are up 6% over last year at this time, even with the COVID effects. Good news is, with Prop 13 protections still in place, existing property owners will not be hammered with big increases in taxes as a result.

New county fire chief

The new county fire chief is Chief Bill Wiser. Chief Wiser has enjoyed a long CAL FIRE career in our growing County. During his 39-year career he worked his way up through the CAL-FIRE ranks in Moreno Valley, Perris, Temecula and the Training Bureau to name just a few. Riverside County (and many cities) contract with the State of California/CAL FIRE (formally CDF) to provide the county with a professional all-hazards fire service.

The firefighters and chiefs are state employees, while many of the admin, support and dispatch employees are county employees. The entire fire service is feeling the impacts of COVID-19, budget challenges, social changes and of course our never-ending fire seasons.

I’ve known Chief Wiser starting way back in my volunteer fire service days and I believe he will be a great Chief for our entire county and contract cities. Rest assured, Chief Wiser will be earning his pay! Congratulations Chief.

The glorious fireworks fiasco

I’ve been a resident of Riverside County since 1971 (estimated population at the time was 460,000. Today it is 2.4 million). I’ve never in my life seen so many airborne fireworks as I did this past July 4th. And they did not come from the professional shows that were mostly cancelled all across the county and state.

Our local sheriff and fire department leaders both reported to the Board of Supervisors an unprecedented record-breaking (in a bad way) level of 911 calls, and fire-related emergencies. This was on top of the routine fires and medical emergencies that occur every day. Many residents reported long delays getting through to 911 or the non-emergency lines.

The fire departments across our county reported well over 100 fires going, with a few wildland fires near Lake Mathews and not having any available fire engines to respond for a period of time. On July 14, the Board of Supervisors agreed that it was necessary for our county to reevaluate our countywide practices, prevention programs and fines in order to discourage future illegal fireworks. This could result in stronger enforcement and confiscation, larger fines, enhanced public awareness education and maybe, just maybe, designating certain improved community parks and facilities for families to enjoy Safe and Sane fireworks that won’t scare the family pets or endanger nearby homeowners.

COVID-19 updates

I receive emails and phone calls nearly every day regarding COVID-19. Many are demanding that the orders imposed by the state need to be strengthened, while others insist they be loosened or eliminated. Sometimes it’s that the COVID-19 stats seem askew or are under-reporting or over-reporting key information.

Much of the population of the First District seems very engaged in this issue, but also very much on complete polar opposite sides when it comes to what the government should be doing or should not be doing. And just about everyone is mad! There is an incredible amount of raw emotion being shared by all sides.

I have a friend of the family who also serves as a County Supervisor in Arizona and she reports that the situation and emotions are nearly identical in her state. People are worried about their health or the health of a loved one, about their jobs, their kids’ education and their rights.

If you want to keep an eye on all the County statistics, simply utilize the following Riverside County Public Health link: https://www.rivcoph.org/coronavirus. And may I boldly suggest, turn the TV off for a while and get outside and enjoy some walks or hikes, or perhaps even the company of some family or old friends in a safe manner. And yes, I know I will get nastygrams for even suggesting this.

U.S. Census

Let’s say your community needs a flood control channel, perhaps a health care clinic or some funding from Community Development Block Grant funds to help build a senior center or a child care facility. Perhaps you live fairly close to the boundaries of an elected official (city, county, state or federal) that you would like to have represent you, well completing the census just might be able to help with some of these examples.

The flow of your federal tax dollars, the boundaries of elected officials, and a host of other government related programs and services depend in large part on how many people fill out and return the census questionnaire. Go online to: www.2020census.gov.a