Alicia Knadler
Indian Valley Editor
12/30/2009

    Streetlights will stay on for now due to a vague promise to pay the January streetlight bill Wednesday, Dec. 9, when directors of the Indian Valley Community Services District met in Greenville.
    Finance Committee Chairman Mike Yost reported to directors about the annual district budget and a response from county and PG&E officials.
    “Everything balances except for the fire department, which is about $9,000 short,” Yost said. “And it’s the streetlights that are eating into what we had originally budgeted for the fire department.”
    Directors were prepared to throw the switch on New Year’s and shut the lights off if county officials did not provide them with more support; they made that clear this fall in a letter to Plumas County Counsel James Reichle.
    “Prior to creation of the community service districts in Indian Valley, streetlights were a county responsibility,” they wrote. “We would like to suggest that they still are.”
    Yost reported county and PG&E officials have responded to that letter, and all agreed that a countywide streetlight district was needed. But, any such district would need a revenue source, and that is where the problem gets stuck.
    Things would get a bit complicated if taxes were to be raised or reapportioned.
    Yost said the bulbs could be changed out to reduce electricity usage, but the district would still be charged the same amount.
    So while there are still no definite answers or promises, directors were willing wait and see what county officials decide.