By Carlos Alcalá, Sacramento Bee

A day after El Dorado County’s new budget went into effect July 1, it went $1.5 million out of whack.

Officials anticipated property tax revenue would tumble when they built the 2010-11 budget, but apparently they weren’t pessimistic enough.

“We thought 4 percent was conservative,” said Laura Schwartz, a county analyst, referring to an anticipated 4 percent drop in revenue.

When late results from the assessor’s tax rolls came in July 2, however, revenue was down 6 percent, leaving the $1.5 million gap between revenue and expenditures.

The Board of Supervisors will look at that, and an expected $16 million deficit for 2011-12, when they meet Monday for budget discussions.

Read the whole story