News Briefs

Hospital bond committee seeks members
The Sonoma Valley Health Care District seeks three candidates for alternates to the Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee.

The deadline for filing an application will be June 4, and a special selection meeting will be held on Monday, June 21. Applicants must be residents of the district.

Board chair Bill Boerum said, “I urge qualified individuals to step forward to be candidates for this process which will likely involve review of expenditures approximating $35 million.”

The committee was formed to ensure bond funds are expended only for the purposes described in the bond measure. In October, the committee met and reviewed the bond fund expenditures through Sept. 30, 2009, totaling $965,276.83.

Interested candidates should submit a letter of interest – no more than two single-spaced pages, preferably a Word document – describing why they should be considered for appointment. A resume of no more than two pages may be attached. Letters must be received at the district administrative office no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, June 4. Letters sent by e-mail should be addressed to the attention of Vivian Woodall, [email protected].

Applicants will be interviewed by the Sonoma Valley Health Care District’s board of directors at a public meeting on Monday, June 14, at 7 p.m.

State will share sales tax bonus

California will give a little money back to Sonoma, and all local governments, due to positive first-quarter growth in statewide sales tax.

The unexpected increase will be about 3.7 percent.

A Board of Equalization analysis of first quarter 2010 cash receipts showed noticeable increases in taxable transactions in used car sales, department stores, and gasoline retailers. In light of the good news, the BOE said it would rescind the decrease of 3.7 percent initially applied to the advances for the first quarter.
The planned decrease, on top of downward adjustments based on the recession, was one of the state’s budget-balancing maneuvers begun in 2008. As sales tax revenues continued to lag, downward monthly advance adjustments were made in February, May, August, and November of 2009.  (In addition to the many local jurisdictions whose payments were reduced, some received no payments at all in those months.)

The sales tax figures have inched upward since then. No secondary downward adjustments were necessary for the fourth quarter of 2009, and the first reporting period of 2010 shows the 3.7 percent increase.