Front Page  »  

Air district staff wants to raise fees

May 22, 2012

Larry Allen

Staff at the San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District is asking its board on Wednesday to approve a handful of fee increases in order to cover its growing budget needs, according to the agenda.

Staff is requesting increasing DMV fees, APCD permit fees, CEQA review costs, and APCD testing and verification costs. In addition, they are seeking a ballot measure to increase parcel fees in order to help fill a $273,000 budget gap the agency is facing.

District expenditures have grown from $2,438,146 during the 2001-2002 fiscal year to a budget of $4,156,766 for the current fiscal year.

Some 75 percent of the agency’s expenditures are for employee costs, according to the district’s expenditure report.

Of the district’s 21 full-time employees, in salaries benefits and “fringes,” 19 run over $100,000 a year.

Top earner, Executive Director Larry Allen, costs $240,119 a year, according, to the district’s fiscal year 2011/2012 salary projections.

This does not include a board voted increase to Allen’s salary of 5 percent slated for December or his $5,400 a year car allowances

The air quality board is comprised of all five county supervisors and a council person from each of the county’s seven cities.


Loading...
Subjects:         
Related:


54 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

This group does nothing for the people, just against us, they don’t help us whne they come on to our farms and ranches and tell us that a tractor is too old ,by their standards, to farm with anymore so you’ll have to buy anew one at a cost of 2 to 300,000 $’s, or step in to one of our rock quarrys and tell the owner that his 2 year old generator is too old to run the rock crusher anymore so you’ll have to buy a new one, these also are in the 100,000 $ bracket too, or we’ll fine you, all these people are here for is to keep their job and make a living off of our backs, this office enforces rules from Carb and they want to have all the county gas stations install new pumps that have one nozzel instead of three for no reason other than they think it will cut down on some sort of pollution, knowing that you can only use one nozzel at a time, this is what these people come up with on our tax dollars do you want to give them more.


0

Pay up folks. This is the government you voted for and the cause you embrace. Remember, they’re saving the planet. Whhaaaaaaa ha ha ha


0

Last APCD meeting in addition to the requested fee hikes they also want MORE THAN $40,000 FOR NEW CARPETING FOR THIER OFFICES!


0

Has any of the staff worked privately to know that money does not magically appear? At some point the APCD Board has to say no to allocating additional funds, vote against increase in fees, cut staff to save money rather than force taxpayers to supplement staff income, etc.


Can someone list by name the individuals on the APCD Board? We should all contact them individually, write letters to editors about the APCD Board, and call local radio programs to get the word out to the public that taxpayers are having to suffer so government employees can get raises, benefits and new office carpet.


0

This is a JOKE! To read this article and the one about schools becoming insolvent, it is clear that we have the wrong priorities. As much as I consider myself an environmentalist, it seems just wrong that we have a county office that produces nothing, except fines, to cover staff costs meanwhile our education system struggles financially. We should be focused on improving our future leaders’ education, not creating new rules that cost businesses undue financial harm with no benefit from the fines other than to cover a dept’s staff cost. This needs to change.


0

Attention Calcoastnews. Love your photo of Mister Allen. Can anyone comment for a caption?


I will go first “Details of the compensation package for Mister Allen have emerged, and Jerrymander Jim voted ‘no’ contrary to accusations”. :-)


0

Watch my lips, “no”.


0

“APCD Board Members, don’t you dare say we can’t spend government money on chair seat warmers.”


0

Could anyone commenting do Mr. Allen’s job?


0

We could just shut the whole thing down


0

Irrelevant question.


The question is can Mr. Allen do the job. He’s the one who is getting paid to do it.


0

PLEEEEZZZE. Can anyone do Mister Allen’s job? That is the best joke of the day! I could do his job along with running my own business!


If I were criminal enough to shake down honest people using my quasi-science mafia style tactics, with fifty paid days off per year I might add, I would have so much leisure time to spare! With my “official car” I could drive my ass all over the county sniffing out air pollution with my little pollution sniffing bureaucratic nose.


With Mister Allen’s clearly unjustified compensation package and free time that comes with it I could live very well here on the central coast knowing I enjoy screwing every one that crosses me or that I have a whim to punish.


Ahh, the life, the power, the comrades, the hob-knobbing with important people…almost makes me crazy with power just sitting here in my parents basement!


0

I worked in the auto body trade for many years so I know first hand how this group operates. They have so many regulations on the shop owners that all most all the little shops and some of the big ones went out of business .

Most of the regulations are based on junk science they spend thousands of hours writing thousand page reports that are so long they hope that no one will read them.

Someone please explain how using water based coating saves the environment when you have to run a 2 million BTU heater for it to dry?

I could go on and on (yes I do have bone to pick with ACPD)I would be willing to bet we could get cleaner air by saving the trees they waste on paper work


0
1 2 3