Kern County (Calif.) declares a fiscal emergency amid plunging oil prices

[Newsjock]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Kern County supervisors declared a state of fiscal emergency at their weekly meeting Tuesday in response to predictions of a massive shortfall in property tax revenues because of tanking oil prices.

Surging oil supplies domestically and weak demand abroad have left Kern, the heart of oil production in California, facing what could be a $61-million hole in its budget once its fiscal year starts July 1, according to preliminary calculations from the county’s assessor-recorder office.

Oil companies account for about 30% of the county’s property tax revenues, a percentage that has been declining in recent decades but still represents a critical cushion for county departments and school districts.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-kern-fiscal-emergency-20150127-story.html

[LeftyMom]

1. Don't drive through Bakersfield anytime soon unless you feel like paying a bullshit ticket.

They'll have to scrounge up some money somehow, and better budgeting through overly enthusiastic law enforcement has always been a thing down there.

[busterbrown]

2. Oh for Fuck’s Sake..

When crude oil was @ $140... How come the County didn’t insist on creating a surplus fund to prepare for fluctuations...
I’ll tell you why, because oil companies could care less about future economic considerations..

[cstanleytech]

3. Oh they care about future economic considerations............for themselves.

And most of them I am willing to bet are sitting on a tidy nest egg that got when the prices were high and all they have to do is sit back and wait and they will just end up earning more profit, until then what they will do is layoff their workers and or cut their pay but once the prices go back up for oil they probably wont raise their workers pay much if at all.

[SunSeeker]

4. Why should property tax revenues be down?

Property taxes are based on how much property you hold, not your income. Oil company income may be down due to lower oil prices, but they are still sitting on their land. I have to pay my ever increasing residential property taxes every year no matter what my income is.

Seems like there are other issues at play, like this from the OP's link:

Operating costs expected at a new jail facility in fiscal 2017 and 2018 factored into the decision as well.

[littlemissmartypants]

9. Lovely, gotta have that jail...

[reddread]

10. cruel and unusual punishment to be held in that toxic soup

dont be surprised if their facilities are emptied of prisoners because it is such a nasty place to be.
thanks to the oil companies.
that purple haze isnt jimi hendrix.

[Roland99]

12. My first thought exactly!

Perhaps the tax assessment value of the property is dropping as oil is less profitable?

[hopemountain]

5. what happened to their federal drought emergency declaration this past year?

sounds like they just found another way to suck more federal dollars from the american taxpayers.
must be real easy to fill out the "declaration of a federal emergency" forms.

[SoapBox]

6. Uhhh...Eggs + Basket = SPLAT!

[littlemissmartypants]

8. I was just thinking...

Lesson: Don't put all your eggs in one barrel.

Thirty percent ... not so well diversified ... are we California? Or is this another - manufactured by nefarious means - capitalism disaster created by the oligarchy?

[Downwinder]

7. Locked into a contract price for fuel?

[DeSwiss]

11. K&R

Which States Stand To Lose The Most From The Crude Collapse

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/13/2015 21:30 -0500

By now, it is no secret that the one state that conventional wisdom expects to suffer the most as a result of the crude collapse is the one state that through the Great Recession was the primary provider of (well-paying) job creation, the same state which is now expected to enter into a full-blown recession as confirmed by Jeff Gundlach in his latest outlook call who, correctly, observed that all the jobs created during the "recovery" were thanks to the shale sector (something we presented previously).



But is it really Texas that will be impacted the most? The answer, at least according to a recent Pew report, is a resounding no.

As Stone McCarthy summarizes, the Pew report assessed the volatility in state tax revenues for the U.S. overall and for all 50 states. The analysts assigned a revenue volatility score to each state based on year-to-year changes in state revenues; the scores control for changes in state tax laws.



MORE

See also: 'Oil price drop hitting budget hard' - Alaska Gov Bill Walker