
Back and Forward: Virginia Varela
Golden Pacific Bank CEO on community banking in the Capital Region
Virginia Varela, Golden Pacific Bank president and CEO, offers her insight into the region’s community banks.

Taxing California: Highest in the Nation And Unstable too
California’s major revenue sources have shifted over time. Until 1995, the biggest was property taxes. Today, it’s personal income taxes.
And California ranks fairly high in overall taxation: 10th highest both per capita and as a percentage of personal income, based on the latest available data from the U.S. Census.

Dilemma of the Month: Adjusting Employee Compensation
We are a small business with a staff of three: myself, my husband and one employee. As a seasonal business, we are sometimes very busy and sometimes have hardly any business at all. Recently, our employee asked to convert from a salary to hourly pay. He made this request during our busy season. My question is: Do we have to pay him during a month when we have no business at all?

California Launches Online Directory of Business Incentives
Government entities can upload information on new portal designed to spur economic development
Businesses in California now have a new centralized directory with which to find information about relevant state and local incentives.

Get Spent
With the rise in online shopping, suburbs like Roseville grapple with how to compensate for declining sales tax revenues
Sales tax just isn’t what it used to be in suburban shopping meccas, as nearly half of all American households now have an Amazon Prime membership. Now, Roseville is looking to residents to help prioritize city services and mitigate the lost revenue.

Rancho Cordova Puts Budget Dollars in the Community’s Hands
In 2014, Rancho Cordova voters approved Measure H, a half-cent sales tax to fund the Community Enhancement Fund program, which funnels grant money from its general fund to improvement projects submitted by residents, local businesses and other organizations that support the city’s key priority areas: public safety; education; economic development; public works; arts, culture, history, entertain

California Taxpayers Could Foot the Bill to Shutter Old Oil Rigs in the Pacific
It’s been nearly three years since an oil pipeline ruptured in Santa Barbara County, coating seven miles of beaches with crude oil and killing dolphins, birds and sea lions.

Back and Forward: Krista Bernasconi
Member of the Roseville Planning Commission on challenges facing the city with dwindling sales tax revenue
Krista Bernasconi, owner and principal of KFB Public Affairs, and member of the Community Priorities Advisory Committee and Roseville Planning Commission of the City of Roseville offers her insight into the challenges facing the city with dwindling sales tax revenue

California May Up its Rehab Efforts to Keep Ex-Inmates from Returning to Prison
Gov. Jerry Brown wants to add millions in new spending on programs to help former inmates stay out of jail—a proposal generating bipartisan praise because of concern they are returning to prison in large numbers. But some say it still isn’t enough.

Bitcoin Started With All Men. Now Crypto Is Opening to Women
Something new is happening in the world of cryptocurrencies.