GK3 Summarized well:
"The Forest Service is NOT the ogre in this case
Once all the weeping, crying and gnashing of teeth has taken place, there will be endless hearings and investigations as after the Camp Fire in Northern California. Then piper will have to be paid. Unfortunately, it is apt to be the rate payers who will get bigger bills and have extreme difficulty getting insurance.
What we need to be focused on NOW is saving lives and property plus trying to figure out how we can best help those who lost their homes and/or businesses."
George Will noted, "We have 20 million people living in a Southern California desert -- Yes, water will be a problem!"
Rebuilding will face very large insurability problems -- for all the reasons stated above, principally 1) No muni water system can be built to handle large scale wildfires; 2) Storing water poses problems via stagnation and contamination, as noted above. Seawater cannot be readily used because the salt residue then hinders vegetation regrowth, magnifying mudslides later; 3) Given the water constraints, obtaining permits even for rebuilding could be difficult, and banks may be hesitant to finance rebuilding without insurance -- or very high deductibles, or exclusions for wildfires.
REBUILDING ? WITH WHAT FINANCING?
What happens to Property Tax Revenue ?
The new Senate does not support a "blank check bailout" for SoCal (or anywhere else). There will be restrictions and Federal oversight on use of funds, and "who gets bailed out" WITH CAPS, e.g. no bailout above $500,000 per home. SoCal Celebrity ocean view homes at $2 million+ will not be receiving Federal bailouts... Working class voters won't stand for that.
So, mortgage writers seeing capped federal bailouts and meager insurance with exclusions for wildfire damage will hesitate to fund rebuilding for the NEXT wildfire season in a region obviously prone to them.
Southern California will lose population, and Property Tax revenue will plummet with lower appraised values. All homeowners are going to push for lower appraisals... Ditto on commercial real estate.
Property tax revenues provide LA County with 20% of its overall budget (of $43 billion total in 2024) at the County level, and State Assistance (now strained) another 25%. Federal assistance down to LA County level is 14%.
Charges for Services will now have to be raised.
And, this ignites a new cycle of police and fire budget cutbacks.... #BAD.
Arizona Realtors are saying the phone is ringing crazy.
"The Forest Service is NOT the ogre in this case
Once all the weeping, crying and gnashing of teeth has taken place, there will be endless hearings and investigations as after the Camp Fire in Northern California. Then piper will have to be paid. Unfortunately, it is apt to be the rate payers who will get bigger bills and have extreme difficulty getting insurance.
What we need to be focused on NOW is saving lives and property plus trying to figure out how we can best help those who lost their homes and/or businesses."
George Will noted, "We have 20 million people living in a Southern California desert -- Yes, water will be a problem!"
Rebuilding will face very large insurability problems -- for all the reasons stated above, principally 1) No muni water system can be built to handle large scale wildfires; 2) Storing water poses problems via stagnation and contamination, as noted above. Seawater cannot be readily used because the salt residue then hinders vegetation regrowth, magnifying mudslides later; 3) Given the water constraints, obtaining permits even for rebuilding could be difficult, and banks may be hesitant to finance rebuilding without insurance -- or very high deductibles, or exclusions for wildfires.
REBUILDING ? WITH WHAT FINANCING?
What happens to Property Tax Revenue ?
The new Senate does not support a "blank check bailout" for SoCal (or anywhere else). There will be restrictions and Federal oversight on use of funds, and "who gets bailed out" WITH CAPS, e.g. no bailout above $500,000 per home. SoCal Celebrity ocean view homes at $2 million+ will not be receiving Federal bailouts... Working class voters won't stand for that.
So, mortgage writers seeing capped federal bailouts and meager insurance with exclusions for wildfire damage will hesitate to fund rebuilding for the NEXT wildfire season in a region obviously prone to them.
Southern California will lose population, and Property Tax revenue will plummet with lower appraised values. All homeowners are going to push for lower appraisals... Ditto on commercial real estate.
Property tax revenues provide LA County with 20% of its overall budget (of $43 billion total in 2024) at the County level, and State Assistance (now strained) another 25%. Federal assistance down to LA County level is 14%.
Charges for Services will now have to be raised.
And, this ignites a new cycle of police and fire budget cutbacks.... #BAD.
Arizona Realtors are saying the phone is ringing crazy.