Plumas County has paid over half a million dollars of public money in fines, fees and penalties due to missed deadlines and late fees and incorrect bills. The total tally for the five years ending in December 2024 was $512,326.
That’s not a figure released by the Plumas County Board of Supervisors. It comes from a public records request made by Rick Foster, a long-time Quincy resident, retired pharmacist and public watchdog.
In October 2024, Foster sent a public records request to the county treasurer/tax collector asking for a report of all fees or penalties paid since January 2020. In February he followed up with a similar request to all county departments, including asking each to report any funds returned from January 2020 through December 2024. Of the 21 departments contacted, 17 reported finding no records of any payments fitting Foster’s description.
Five departments responded with dollar amounts paid due to fines, fees or funds that were allocated but not used:
- Assessor – $358,979
- Treasurer/tax collector – $88,267
- Public health – $55,831
- Behavioral health – $9,108
- Museum – $139
The Plumas County Auditor’s office provided Foster with information about penalties paid by the treasurer/tax collector:
Foster is concerned about bleeding over $500,000 in public funds due to a department head missing a deadline or failing to make a payment on time. “If it happens on a regular basis, some officials are not doing what they were elected or hired to do,” he said.
But he is equally concerned that the public has little to no information about these expenditures. “It’s not the dollar amount that bothers me as much as that nobody seems to know about it,” Foster told The Plumas Sun.
Board of supervisors response
Foster has been asking the county supervisors to address the issue of financial fees and penalties since July 2024. He asked again Sept. 3, 2024.
Then-Supervisor Greg Hagwood said his requests were being “analyzed and reviewed.” Hagwood said he would put the issue on the board’s agenda for Sept. 17, 2024. It did not appear on that agenda. So Foster took the step of filing his 21 requests under California’s Public Records Act.
Since becoming chair of the board in January, Supervisor Kevin Goss has also said he would agendize Foster’s request. Foster is still waiting.
“I am sad and disappointed that the board of supervisors does not do what it says it will do,” he said. Foster has suggested that the supervisors review this use of public funds at least once a year.
“They need to see what money is going out of the county general fund and paying for fees where they shouldn’t… In some way, shape or form, we’re losing money when we shouldn’t be,” he said.
These expenditures should be a matter of public record, Foster said: “The only way that we the public can make the county operate properly is by paying attention and calling <the supervisors’> attention to the things that we think are problems.”
Where the money went
The largest chunk of the county’s $512,326 in penalties was paid by the Plumas County Assessor’s office: a $358,979 correction to a corporate property tax bill. Foster said he had heard about this payment but he did not see that it was reported publicly to or by the board.
“It bothered me that the public wasn’t notified of this particularly large amount,” he told The Plumas Sun in a telephone interview. That sparked his curiosity about other refunds or penalties paid by other county departments.
In response to his request for information, Frogatt said she reduced the assessed value of two properties owned by Sierra Pacific Industries. The logging company disputed the county’s appraisals.
The next largest amount was reported for the office of the Plumas County Treasurer/Tax Collector. The $88,267 includes a $34,504 payment reimbursing Feather River College for penalties it incurred as part of the county’s investment pool, managed by Treasurer Julie White. White was late on interest payments to FRC, forcing the college to pay penalties. Other fees included reimbursements to special districts involved in the investment pool and the Employment Development Department, payments to around 12 different entities, Foster said.
Public Health Director Nicole Reinert told Foster her department had to return $55,831 to the California Health Department due to an audit finding regarding a federal grant program that provides funding to states and territories to improve HIV medical and support services. The department had no tracking system in place to validate its grant allocation process. It is now doing the tracking to prevent future penalties, Reinert told Foster.
The Plumas County Behavioral Health Department reported $9,108 in penalty payments. They were late payments to utility companies for telephone and copier services, Foster said.
The smallest fee reported provokes the most curiosity. Foster said Plumas County Museum Director Paul Russell found $139 in penalties. All were late fees owed to utility companies in small amounts: $1.34 up to $70.63 charged for late payments. Russell submits the bills he receives to the county treasurer, who then pays them.
After hearing Russell’s report, Foster speculated that other departments might have similar late fees charged to them that they were not aware of. “I wonder if they even knew that maybe penalties and fees have been placed against their department,” Foster said.
As a former member of two Plumas County civil grand juries, Foster firmly believes the public should be engaged in the decisions of government agencies, including the board of supervisors.
“I’d like to see a lot more people at these meetings and not just to oppose or support a specific cause,” he said.
