Riverside County leaders meet with residents to discuss improved infrastructure plan
Several east valley residents, spanning from Thermal to the Salton Sea, came together to learn more about Riverside County’s efforts to improve infrastructure.
“I would like to see more roads, the improvement in roads as you come in here you can see all the bumps and stop signs, speed bumps, and more lightning around the community,” said Eddie Cecena, a Mecca resident.
Fourth District Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, Riverside County and the nonprofit organization Alianza Coachella Valley are working in partnership to form an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) to bring infrastructure upgrades to the eastern Coachella Valley communities.
Fourth District Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, Riverside County and the nonprofit organization Alianza Coachella Valley are working in partnership to form an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) to bring infrastructure upgrades to the eastern Coachella Valley communities.
As part of the process of this infrastructure effort called ECV Próspera, more meetings are planned to gather community members’ input on projects.
Cecena has lived in Mecca for 15 years. He decided to drop by Thursday’s meeting to understand how the ECV Próspera plan will impact his community.
“We wanted to see where all that money is going to be going to, and how much percentage of that money's been withdrawn from us,” Cecena said.
That was one of the biggest questions asked: "Where will the money come from?"
“It's a tax increment, which one already pays from their property taxes. And we use a certain percentage of that tax increment that they already pay,” Perez said.
With the use of the enhanced infrastructure financing district, Perez made it clear that extra taxing is not the case.
“When you pay your property taxes down to this financing, district 20% of that money that you pay is going to be put away over here, as the reserve funding, if you will and that money is going to be used to put infrastructure in the community in which you live in,” Perez said.
Improvements will go toward water, sewer, electricity, housing, community facilities, and the SaltoSea. All problems that Perez says get overlooked in underserved communities.
Supervisor Perez encourages community members to participate in this initiative, which can help fund improvements to infrastructure in areas such as water and sewer, electricity and telecommunications, housing, community facilities and the Salton Sea.
“Many of our communities in which don't have the infrastructure, or they have dilapidated housing," Perez said."These areas that quite frankly, have been, in my opinion, neglected over generations, it's time now, it's time that we are empowered out here.”
Perez said it’s a long-term investment that will fund infrastructure projects for the next 45 years.
Information about EIFDs, a map of the proposed EIFD boundaries, and meeting information is available on the county’s Web site, http://rivcoed.org/eastern-coachella-valley. The Web site also has videos of the first meeting of the EIFD Public Financing Authority, which was held June 15.
