Kevin’s Corner                               December 2024 - Volume 12, Issue 12 

Final Edition 

Kevin's Corner

Changing Of The Guard – First let me congratulate and welcome my successor, former State Assemblyman and retired teacher Mr. Jose Medina of Riverside. Supervisor-Elect Medina will start his service in January, and is already busy forming his First District team. With roughly 25,000 county employees and 2.5 million residents, Riverside County is the 10th largest county in the nation and the 4th largest in California. We have warned Jose that he will be drinking from a fire hose, so if you need to connect with him (and it’s not urgent) – give him a little time to get settled in. District 1 e-mail ([email protected]) and phone number (951-955-1010) will remain the same. What To Watch For – As this is my last Kevin’s Corner, I’ll try not to put you to sleep with my usual updates, but here are my top five “county related” issues to watch for in 2025 and beyond.
 

1. The County budget is likely to face VERY intense (read: multi-billion dollar) challenges as new expenses grow each year. This includes MAJOR increases in labor costs, and skyrocketing healthcare and pension costs. There are also new demands for severely needed (and extremely expensive) large facility expansions at our Public Safety training center, RUHS hospital and Behavioral Health facilities. And on the list of many smaller scale future budget needs, is at least five (5) new or replacement county fire stations that now cost roughly $12 million each!

2. Needed Transportation infrastructure (new freeway capacity) appears to be under wholesale assault by State regulatory agencies (otherwise known as the CA State Transportation Agency, CA Transportation Commission, CA Air Resources Board, & CA Housing & Community Dev.) and elected state legislators. They are advancing a “Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure” which is basically hostile to anyone driving their own vehicles. This a real threat to our local cities and county and their future ability to obtain State approvals and the needed funding to expand anything beyond your driveway. Oddly, even with this potential shutdown of crucial infrastructure, state regulators are still pushing our county to add 166,000 additional residential units (or 300,000+ people). All of which will need additional road/infrastructure capacity to get to work, school, healthcare, shopping, vacations, etc). They can’t have it both ways! However…

3. Consideration of new Toll Lanes is alive and well. With state funding for traditional freeways on life support, new discussions are occurring in city halls and at RCTC about expanding Toll Lanes on the 15, 60, 91 & 215. Some discussions involve eliminating (taxpayer funded) free HOV lanes and replacing them with revenue generating Toll Lanes. While I STRONGLY disagree with eliminating our free HOV lanes, the next BIG financial challenge that is barreling towards us is electric vehicles. As they do not consume gasoline, they therefore do not contribute any fuel related taxes and fees towards our freeway maintenance and repairs. So get ready for a state “mileage tax”.
 

4. The shortage of new Firefighter Paramedics continues to cause staffing problems for Riverside County/CAL FIRE. CAL FIRE has proposed changing its qualifications so that licensed paramedics can get hired and then train to become firefighters (as nearly every other fire department does), but the proposal has been held up for an extended period by the State of California Human Resources agency. As a result, fire engines are being down-staffed in numerous communities, waiting for CALHR to make a decision. No rush – it’s only lives we are talking about!
 

5. The long term viability of the March Air Reserve Base is becoming a bit murkier as private sector expansion on and adjacent to the air base is being pushed by those looking for new tax and fee revenues. The base is set to receive new military aircraft and hundreds of millions of dollars in new federal investments as the Pacific Theater heats up with new challenges from China and North Korea. Private sector flights in and out of the base currently account for roughly 3000 flights a year, but the March Joint Powers Aviation agency is proposing to increase that number to 21,000 private flights (mostly warehouse cargo) along with more non-military businesses occupying property adjacent to the military runway.
 

Before I Leave, I want to thank all of you for allowing me to serve as your representative for these past 12 years. I’ve (mostly) enjoyed the dozens, and on occasion the hundred or so email replies I have received each month in response to this newsletter. The engagement by and of the public is key to our Republic. I’ve been keenly aware to NOT become one of those elected officials who starts out with the best intentions of “representing the people to the government” and instead gets seduced by the perks and power of the position and then switches to “representing the government to the people”. This elected office has never “belonged” to me – it was only temporarily loaned. And with that, I must also acknowledge the incredibly hard working staff that has worked tirelessly helping people and thus made me look good (well… as best they could). So my sincere personal thanks to all the current and former First District staff: Jeff Greene, Bob Magee, Kerstin Justus, Robin Reid, Kristen Huyck, Tom Ketcham, Elena Bautista, Araceli Ruiz, Tricia Almiron, Samantha Stillwell, Liz Limon, Hashish Winstead, Lynn Anderson, Damian Fussel, Lorraine Williams & Vanessa Ortega. A shout-out also goes to those who volunteered grueling hours to serve as our First District Planning Commissioner(s); Charissa Leach, Bruce Shaffer, Shade Awad and Mussa Khiar. I must also express my gratitude to my wife Chris, who has put up with me for 42 years, starting when I was a volunteer firefighter and through my various elected positions – all while raising our two children and helping manage our family businesses. Rest assured it was no easy task for her. Again, thank you for the privilege to serve. Stay engaged. Stay informed. Stay vigilant. It’s your government!
 

Respectfully,
Kevin D. Jeffries
First District Supervisor (Retired 12/31/24)
 

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