Corning jobless rate at 17.9%

So, which do you want first — the good news or the bad news concerning Corning and the county it resides in?

Let's start with some good news.

Neither Corning nor Tehama County sit at the bottom of the unemployment pile in the state, according to the state's latest statistics. That infamous position is reserved for Imperial County, which registered a 29.1 percent unemployment during the month of November.

Tehama County's unemployment rate was 15.3 percent and Corning's 17.9 percent, during that same month.

Maybe it's not the best good news, but it is slightly better than Shasta County's unemployment rate which is a 4 percent higher than Tehama's, and Rancho Tehama and Gerber's unemployment rate that is a whopping 22 percent.

Even Tehama County's government seat, Red Bluff, was suffering with 17.8 percent unemployment.

The bad news, compared to the national level of 9.3 percent unemployment, the county and city are treading water and barely keeping afloat.

The good news: both city and county governments are functioning on a balanced budget through July.

"We have been able to balance the city's general budget by using reserve funds, city employee furloughs, part-time employment contracts with the city manager and police chief, sharing the cost of our city planner with the county, and other cuts," said City Manager Steve Kimbrough. "The big nut to crack will be finding the funding to retain entire city staff."

In more good news for Corning, Kimbrough confirmed the city is recovering about $200,000 in lost sales tax from a major retailer for the current budget as well as future budgets, and may be getting an additional $200,000 for the current budget.

"That will carry us into the next fiscal year, and if things continue as they are we will be able fund another year of city government without cutting any city employees," the city manager said.

Tehama County Administrative Analyst Julie Cisneros said the county's 2010-11 general budget is balanced with six months down and six more to go.

Unfortunately, to balance that budget, the county had to implement some significant cuts, amounting to 13 percent in budget reductions to non-public safety and 9.5 percent to public safety since the 2008-09 budget.

In his budget summary presented to the Tehama County Board of Supervisors, Bill Goodwin, county chief administrator, said the county budget is a stable financial plan.