Ventura County has an diverse array of energy assets, but the rules are going to have to change if innovation is going to flourish in the region.
That was my takeaway after moderating two panels on the future of energy at the Ventura County Economic Development Association’s annual business outlook conference on Oct. 25.
With its $56.4 million purchase of another Central Coast bank, Heritage Oaks Bancorp lays the foundation to build the region’s next big community banking franchise and emerges as the dominant player in the market.
Paso Robles-based Heritage Oaks said Oct. 21 that it is buying Mission Community Bank, based in San Luis Obispo, in a cash-and-stock deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2014. The combined bank would have $1.5 billion in assets, making it the largest bank based in the Tri-Counties.
Despite dire warnings that future pension costs could cause a fiscal meltdown for tri-county governments, credit ratings for Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo county bonds remain mostly unaffected by looming gaps in their retirement obligation funding.
Standard & Poor’s, a leading rating agency, ranks all three counties near the top of a scale that spans from its highest AAA to C, the lowest rating a bond can have without defaulting. Santa Barbara County carries the agency’s second highest AA-plus designation. Ventura County is assigned a slightly lower AA-rating this year and SLO County is ranked AA-minus.
Former Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks, whose $283,000 pension is among the largest of any retired government employee in California, is suing the county for a supplemental benefit that would pay him another $75,000 a year.
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Gov. Jerry Brown has named Ventura and Kern counties among four newly-established innovation hubs designed to spur job growth. The so-called Kern-Ventura i-Hub is designed to foster the growth of high-tech companies in aerospace, energy and other fields and is part of the California iDEA Hub. It will be based in Ridgecrest, in Kern County Read More →