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Volume 171 • Issue 72 | 75¢
mtdemocrat.com
Monday, June 20, 2022
Smith gets 16-plus years in state prison
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Mountain Democrat staff Anthony B. Smith has been sentenced to 16 years and six months in state prison for killing 14-year-old Camino resident Julianna Abballo in a Feb. 8 DUI hit-and-run. The sentence came June 14 following a plea agreement by El Anthony B. Smith Dorado County Superior Court Judge Jamie Pesce, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Smith, 23, pleaded guilty in May to charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit-and-run resulting in death and driving with a blood alcohol level over the legal limit. Prosecutors said Smith also admitted to special allegations that he fled the scene of the collision, was previously arrested for driving while impaired and that he had a blood alcohol level over .15%.
Rider Sid McBridge and horse Lad, above, prepare to gallop down Mother Lode Drive to complete their portion of the Pony Express National Historic Trail Thursday morning near the El Dorado Y. Members of the National Pony Express Association recreate the Pony Express Trail journey over a 10-day, 2,000-mile and eight-state event that encompasses Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. More than 750 riders participate in the ride, which is conducted 24 hours a day until the last rider reaches their destination in Old Sacramento. Rider Danny Miller, right, poses for a photo with his horse Red after delivering the mochila, Spanish for knapsack, and where riders kept the mail they delivered in the years the Pony Express operated, 1860-61.
Water sale gets preliminary OK Michael Raffety Mountain Democrat correspondent
Mountain Democrat photos by Eric Jaramishian
CAO’s 2022-23 budget approved Eric Jaramishian Staff writer The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors approved of the Chief Administrative Office’s recommended budget, along with a set of projects and costoffsetting allocations,
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See Smith, page A3
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during a special budget meeting June 7. Chief Administrative Officer Don Ashton set the recommended budget at $864 million for fiscal year 2022-23, a $93.1 million increase from last fiscal year’s budget. The appropriations break down to $266.6 million for salaries and benefits, $275.2 million for services and supplies, $50.1 for fixed assets, $144.9 million for transfers, $121.4 million for contingencies and $6.7 million for additions to reserves and other designated funds. County staff predicts property tax revenues will increase by 4.75% and a 2.4% increase in sales and use tax revenue in 2022-23. Budget priorities include road maintenance (for which the county has set aside $7 million from discretionary
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revenues), $6 million to the capital projects reserve, $2.9 million for contingent funding for future CalPERS cost increases, $2.145 million for the next public safety facility loan payment and $900,000 for snow removal equipment. Additionally, $2.5 million from the Transient Occupancy Tax will go to fire districts to offset costs, $1 million will go toward the community park planned for Diamond Springs, $250,000 for the Chili Bar park project, $300,000 to establish the Office of Wildfire Preparedness and Resilience and $20 million will go toward construction of the new Mosquito Bridge. Other budget priorities include $9.8 million for ongoing maintenance of countyowned buildings, $18.4 million from state and
federal revenue to address homelessness, nearly $4 million to fund the sheriff ’s helicopter with an additional $800,000 in ongoing operation costs, $76,500 for Placerville city pool maintenance and $2.2 million in support of Caldor Fire recovery costs. The Board of Supervisors also approved to offset maintenance costs for the Placerville Aquatic Center for fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22. The county is adding $6 million to capital projects designations, totaling an ending balance of nearly $27 million, and adding $450,000 to the General Reserve, which is expected to end the 2022-23 fiscal year with nearly $10.8 million. Inflation was presented as a major budget challenge. CAO n
See Budget, page A7
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The El Dorado Irrigation District is preparing to sell 2,550 acre-feet of water to Westland Water District at $800 an acre-foot for a potential total income of $2 million. The first source is 750 “It’s publicly acre-feet of water stored in Weber Reservoir the difficult to district doesn’t need this tell people year. This water source has been used in the past to conserve to sell to Westland, an water and sell agricultural water district in Fresno County trying to water. It’s a save its fruit and almond conundrum.” trees. Weber Reservoir is a — George Osborne, post-1914 water right and El Dorado Irrigation thus the sale requires District director approval from the State Water Resources Control Board as well as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates Folsom Dam. The second source is 1,800 acre-feet of saved water resulting from replacing ditch water with a pipeline from Forebay. This saved water is pre1914 water and its sale only requires approval from the USBR. This saved water goes through the powerhouse and then is released into the South Fork of the American River to Folsom Lake. EID has about 7,000 acre-feet of allocation from the USBR in Folsom Lake as well as 17,000 acre-feet of its own Permit 21112 water. Both sources require environmental documentation. None of the water comes from Jenkinson Lake. The water coming down the 22 miles of flumes, tunnels and canals winds up in Forebay where 15,080 acre-feet of pre-1914 water is available for delivery to Reservoir 1 Water Treatment Plant in Pollock Pines, with the rest going through the power plant. Feeding this system are four alpine reservoirs in three counties. All these reservoirs are full.
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