California Oil County Declares Fiscal Emergency as Crude Tumbles
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Collapsing crude prices are squeezing the finances of Kern County, home to three-fourths of California’s oil production.
The leaders of the jurisdiction of 864,000 people about 110 miles (180 kilometers) north of Los Angeles declared a fiscal emergency Tuesday after the commodity slumped 60 percent since June. The decline may reduce property-tax collections, the county’s largest revenue source, by almost 15 percent in the year beginning July 1, said Nancy Lawson, the assistant county administrative officer.