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WEEKEND DECEMBER 17-18, 2011 Breaking news at: Holiday Mashup: Scrooge vs Aliens USA Weekend www.redbluffdailynews.com See Inside RED BLUFF Day Three SPORTS 1B Sunny 63/34 Weather forecast 8B By ANDREA WAGNER DN Staff Writer County Supervisors con- firmed opposition to state fire prevention fees with a letter to the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection. DAILYNEWS TEHAMACOUNTY DAILY 50¢ T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Supervisors sound off about $150 fire fee Regarding the $150 per year, per structure fee, county offi- cials said the imposition of fees "places drastic and unlawful burdens on rural business own- ers" and puts "additional unau- thorized — and unpublicized — burdens on cash-strapped local governments, many of whom are struggling to provide the same fire protection services that this fee is intended to sup- port." Because of a tight, five-day deadline for feedback to the board of forestry and fire pro- Spartan P r i d e tection, Chief Administrator Bill Goodwin signed and mailed the letter Nov. 29 before bringing it before the board Dec. 6 for approval. The letter states that Tehama County remains "deeply opposed" to the fire fee in prin- ciple. "[The fee] is grossly inequitable for rural residents and represents unwise and unworkable public policy," the letter states. See FEE, page 7A Court house on track, despite cuts Staff report Most planned new courthouses in the state will con- tinue on track but on a tighter budget. The state Judicial Council has announced cuts to the court construction project budget, canceling two pro- jects — in Alpine and Sierra counties — and pushing back six other projects. While the Tehama County courthouse will continue without delay it will be affected by a 4 percent budget cut that is being implemented on all projects. The construction budget will be cut by 2 percent for See COURT, page 7A Corning reaches deal with city workers By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer CORNING — The City Council approved memorandums of under- standing with manage- ment, dispatchers and public safety units and amended retirement con- tracts at Tuesday's meet- ing. The employees have agreed to no raises and continued furloughs, equivalent to a 10 percent reduction in pay and hours, through Dec. 31, 2012. "The employees were Friday morning's Holi- day Classic Pep Rally included the tradition- al slam dunk competi- tion and a variety of skits and student per- formances. Photo, right, by Danny Rabal- ais, courtesy of We Shoot Ya Photography. Daily News photo, above, by Chip Thompson Calif jobless rate drops to 11.3 percent SACRAMENTO (AP) — California's unemploy- ment rate fell to 11.3 per- cent in November, the lowest it has been since May 2009, state officials said Friday. There was only minimal job growth in that time, however, indicating that the state still has a long way to go before its economic woes are over. Only 6,600 new jobs were added in November, a key barometer, Califor- nia's Employment Devel- opment Department said. ''Basically this is an OK jobs report ... we're just seeing slow progress,'' said Kimberly Ritter, an economist at the Los Angeles County Eco- nomic Development Cor- poration. ''At least we can say it's steady. It looks like the labor markets are on the road to recovery.'' The figures show Cali- fornia added about 18,000 jobs in trade, transporta- tion and utilities, but they were offset by 28,000 lost jobs in construction, man- ufacturing and profession- al and business services. That followed an over- all gain of 37,600 Califor- nia jobs in October — a rosy figure that was revised upward from the previous month's release. The unemployment rate in October was 11.7 percent. California's unemploy- ment rate was stuck near 12.5 percent for most of 2010, and the last time it fell below 11.3 percent 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 See JOBLESS, page 7A extremely cooperative and understanding that the city does not have money to give out," said Mayor Gary Strack. "I particular- ly, and I'm sure the coun- cil, feel the employees really stepped forward. When you deal with salary and a person's livelihood it's difficult. I hope we get past the fur- loughs soon, but with this economy it's difficult." Changes to all three units MOU include the maximum hours of vaca- tion going from 120 hours to 150 per calendar year. Leave above 150 hours will be paid out at the end of the calendar year. Administrative leave was increased, going from 100 hours to 150, in the Management MOU and Seniority Performance Pay, an incentive amount added to the employee's base salary, was changed from 2.5 percent after 15 years to 10 years and 5 percent, not compounded with the 2.5 percent, at 15 years instead of 20. In the public safety unit, the MOU included an increase in the amount of compensatory time allowed, going from 100 hours to 150 hours as of Dec. 25, in lieu of paid overtime. Changes to retirement for public safety, as approved Tuesday in the new retirement contract for police officers and miscellaneous employees, include that employees will pay one half, or 4.5 percent, of the former retirement costs. Previ- ously it was 9 percent for the public safety unit. Those affected would be those hired after Jan. 1. Retirement changes for dispatchers include going from 2 percent at 55 for- mula to 2 percent at 60. The new formula means that the city takes the highest earned over a See DEAL, page 7A Wrapping up Christmas cheer Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Members of the Corning Volunteer Fire Depart- ment and the community wrap Christ- mas pre- sents Thurs- day at the Corning Fire Hall.The pre- sents will be delivered today along with food baskets to pre-selected families in Corning.