So, when the value of their land falls, tax revenue from them does as well, which in turn drives the county's revenue down.
Kern County Administrative Analyst, Allan Krauter, said it is well estimated that the general fund will be down about $44 million, and the Kern County fire fund will lose about $17 million over last year.
So, the grand total of $61 million, Krauter said, needs to be made up somewhere.
Krauter said, "maybe you freeze hiring, maybe you freeze major equipment purchases, major maintenance is usually deferred. We already have hundreds of millions of dollars of back logged and deferred maintenance on county facilities. So it's always tough to go from that and then say we are going to defer even more."
Kern County Fire Chief, Brian Marshall said, "each fire station costs approximately $2 million a year to staff and equip. So a $17 million cut is eight and a half fire stations that have the potential for closure...we don't want that."
Allan Krauter said 96% of vehicle miles traveled in California last year were traveled in engines that burned fossil fuels -- either gasoline or natural gas.
He said there will always be a need for oil, and it will be encouraging when the price of oil goes back up, but property taxes for the next fiscal year are based off the price of oil right now... and Tuesday U.S. crude closed at $45.89 a barrel.