Community Center, MSCP benefit from third-quarter budget adjustments

Projects benefiting the Fallbrook Community Center and the Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) were among the county’s third-quarter budget adjustments.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 May 24 to approve the budget adjustments, including $14,815.36 for energy efficiency improvements to the Fallbrook Community Center and $36,500 for the MSCP fund.

An American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant had provided $500,000 of US Department of Energy funds to design and construct photovoltaic systems at the Lakeside Community Center and the Fallbrook Community Center. The DOE funding agreement merely stipulated that the photovoltaic projects be implemented at county parks, and the county budgeted $250,000 for each community center. The system at the Lakeside Community Center was completed with $14,815.36 of that budget remaining, so the balance was transferred to the budget of the Fallbrook Community Center project.

In January 2010 the county supervisors adopted a new policy for mitigation on county-owned land. The elements of that policy include that revenue obtained through the sale of mitigation credits will be used to purchase additional lands which meet the mitigation policy’s criteria. The county’s Department of Public Works mitigated its Lake Rancho Viejo restoration project by purchasing 3.7 acres of arroyo toad habitat mitigation credits from the county’s Department of Parks and Recreation, and that $36,500 mitigation credit purchase will be used for the MSCP.