Southern Coachella Valley Community Services District struggles to afford law enforcement, [Riverside County] grand jury finds

A special tax district covering rural communities on the far eastern side of the Coachella Valley is struggling to pay ballooning public safety costs despite siphoning money from a waste management operation in recent years, the Riverside County Civil Grand Jury found.

Due to the lack of funds, attributed to stagnant property values within the areas represented by the Southern Coachella Valley Community Services District, the grand jury recommends asking voters to approve a tax increase to cover police services.

The district represents about 23,000 people who live within a roughly, 140-square-mile area that includes Mecca, Thermal, Oasis and Vista Santa Rosa.

Dissolving the district might also be necessary, according to the grand jury.

"The district will eventually run out of funds," the report reads. "The only foreseeable alternative is to go back to the voters with a ballot measure to increase the property tax supporting supplemental law enforcement."

But the SCVCSD decided against including such a measure on the November ballot, raising the question of when the issue will be dealt with.

Frank Figueroa, a district board member since 2016, said that he is aware of the grand jury's report but did not want to comment on its findings until the board has a chance to discuss it in session.

The district's next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 17, but a final agenda has not yet been publicly released. 

Generally, Figueroa said, the board recently passed a budget that pays for law enforcement services for the current fiscal year. Any proposed increase in tax assessments for district residents will be considered in a manner that allows for public involvement before any further action will be taken.

Still, Figueroa acknowledged the district's financial viability has been a concern. 

"We’re running on an operational budget that was established in 1986," Figueroa said. "And law enforcement has become very expensive over recent years."

The grand jury further recommended that the SCVCSD seek legal advice as to whether their previous fund reallocation could withstand a challenge in court and urged the Riverside County Local Agency Formation Commission to fulfill its oversight responsibility for these types of districts.

According to the grand jury’s report, SCVCSD’s general fund has been in the red since 2016, dropping to a deficit of more than $400,000 last year. Meanwhile, the district’s income from a waste management operation has just about doubled to nearly $250,000 a year since 2004.

SCVCSD has used $495,868 of money from the “rubbish fund,” as the district refers to it, to cover for law enforcement costs as of July 2019, the grand jury found. Exposing them to possible litigation and preventing those funds from being used for community cleaning, their intended purpose.

"It's the elephant in the room," district board President Rebecca Broughton told The Desert Sun last year. "We're all concerned about the district."

Palm Springs Desert Sun
Christopher Damien
September 11, 2020