Dan McDonald
Staff Writer
8/10/2011

The hard decisions have been made.

After weeks of discussion and weighing alternatives, the Plumas County Board of Supervisors voted to begin laying off county workers.

“I think we have to issue some pink slips today,” Supervisor Robert Meacher said, prior to the board voting unanimously to do so. “We are doing this with the hope that perhaps we can turn it around.”

Meacher led the board and county department heads through a detailed list of recommended cuts during the Tuesday, Aug. 2, meeting.

In addition to layoffs, which require 30 days’ notice, the board voted to direct all county general-fund departments to initiate furloughs immediately.

The county took these steps to help close a $1.8 million budget deficit for the 2011-12 fiscal year.

“We’ve got to start being realistic about the (budget) situation nationally,” Board Chairwoman Lori Simpson said. “The problem has come to roost locally and we have to step up and do something.”

County Budget Officer Jack Ingstad said the layoffs will save the county $272,345.

The county has cut 105 positions since the recession began.

County departments targeted for cuts are the fair, facility services, information technology, senior services, library, code enforcement, county administrative office and records management.

Fair operations, which has been affected by state budget cuts, received

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Mona Hill
Staff Writer
8/10/2011

Participating by telephone Aug. 4, Plumas District Hospital Chief Executive Officer Doug Lafferty briefed hospital directors on the necessity and timeline for implementation of an electronic medical records (EMR) system. Lafferty could not attend the meeting personally because of a prior out-of-town obligation.

The federal government has mandated that hospitals receiving Medicare payments implement EMR. To receive reimbursement, the hospital must meet completion deadlines.

The timeline is exceptionally tight: To receive the maximum reimbursement, the project must be at least 80 percent complete by July 1, 2012. Delay beyond the July 1 deadline will mean a smaller reimbursement.

Because the hospital pays the majority of the expense early in the project, Lafferty asked the board to authorize application for a $1.5 million bridge loan through a United Healthcare bond.

Lafferty wants to preserve the hospital’s cash position. To do so requires the bridge loan.

District homeowners will not be obligated to repay the bond; it’s repaid with the federal reimbursements. There will be no additional hospital assessment on homeowners’ property tax bills for this loan.

Controller and Interim Chief Financial Officer Cindy Crosslin said the loan has a five-year repayment term at 4 percent interest. No payment is due for 13 months and there are no pre-paym

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