County gives Idyllwild Fire District cash advance

Riverside County supervisors today approved a $400,000loan to the cash-strapped Idyllwild Fire Protection District to coverpersonnel and other expenses that cannot be deferred until the statedistributes the district’s share of property tax revenue.

Without comment, the board voted 5-0 to allocate the funding, as it hasdone at the district’s request since 2011.

“This is something we’ve done … because of the district’s budgetsituation,” Idyllwild Fire Protection District Chief Patrick Reitz told CityNews Service. “The amount we ask for has dropped every year as the economyslowly rebounds.”

According to county Executive Office documents, the $400,000 is a littleless than 85 percent of what the district is expecting to receive when thestate disburses property tax receipts in January.

Under the terms of the contract between the county and district, thecounty will have claim on the district’s tax receipts until the loan is repaidin full.

The interest rate on the IOU — based on the county treasurer’s pooledfunds rate — will be less than half a percent, accruing monthly.

Reitz, who was named chief earlier this year, said cash advances fromthe county are a result of “deficit spending that ate away at reserves” underhis predecessors.

The Idyllwild Fire Protection District employs 10 full-timefirefighters, including the chief, as well as a part-time assistant, accordingto Reitz. There is also an active reserve firefighter program in place.

Personnel provide paramedic services in Idyllwild and the immediatesurrounding area, including the community of Pine Cove. The 5-square-miledistrict is not under Cal Fire’s jurisdiction.

A fire protection district crew joined U.S. Forest Service and countyfirefighters in battling the 27,500-acre Mountain Fire, which was projected tobe fully contained today. Idyllwild was threatened by the monster blaze andevacuations were ordered, but flames never reached the city limits.

Reitz told CNS that two water tender crews from the Idyllwild FireProtection District were on the fire lines for a week.

“We have yet to see what is coming back to us in the way ofreimbursement for overtime and other costs,” the chief said. “We’re trying todetermine whether we can get some disaster relief funding.”