Department heads present projected expenses and revenue to
officials
The San Benito County Board of Supervisors started the budget
hearing process July 19, considering tapping into county reserves
while allowing department heads and members of the public a chance
to comment on the recommended budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year.
The hearings continued Thursday morning, when the supervisors hoped
to complete the process by noon.
The recommended budget was prepared by Rich Inman, the county
administrative officer, management analysts Catherine Shaw, Margie
Riopel and Janelle Cox, and Dina Bies, an executive secretary, with
input from Budget Ad Hoc finance committee members Supervisors
Jaime De La Cruz and Robert Rivas.
Department heads present projected expenses and revenue to officials
The San Benito County Board of Supervisors started the budget hearing process July 19, considering tapping into county reserves while allowing department heads and members of the public a chance to comment on the recommended budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year. The hearings continued Thursday morning, when the supervisors hoped to complete the process by noon.
The recommended budget was prepared by Rich Inman, the county administrative officer, management analysts Catherine Shaw, Margie Riopel and Janelle Cox, and Dina Bies, an executive secretary, with input from Budget Ad Hoc finance committee members Supervisors Jaime De La Cruz and Robert Rivas.
Though the recommended budgets went to department heads just two weeks ago, some adjustments had been recommended in the last week to help bring the county budget into balance with minimal use of reserve funds. Other departments were still struggling with unknown state and federal budgets.
Before the budget hearings began, county staff provided an overview of the recommended budget and discussed a few policy issues for the board.
“I am concerned that revenue is dropping faster than expenses,” said Supervisor Anthony Botelho.
Inman noted that the fiscal situation the county has been facing in recent years is unprecedented.
“In my experience of 36 years-plus I’ve never experienced what we are going through now,” he said. “What can we do on the revenue side to stimulate the economy?”
In a letter included in the budget documents, dated July 7, Inman wrote that the goal of the committee was to present the supervisors with a balanced budget, that there were a number of critical issues still to be discussed at the Tuesday meeting.
“A major issue is the state budget and at this writing the specifics are still unavailable,” he wrote. “In these extremely difficult times I am confident we can provided the community with a sound, albeit fragile, financial plan to guide us through this fiscal year.”
One of the budget units Inman pulled out to discuss with the board initially was that of Community-Based Organizations. In the past, the supervisors had provided funding to community organizations such as Community Food Bank, Emmaus House and other nonprofits.
“Does the county want to continue to support community-based requests?” Inman asked. “It is a policy issue. The reason to continue would be that they are very close to the clients we serve. The provide services to us by keeping people out of our system.”
Supervisor Margie Barrios asked if cutting the funding would affect the organizations’ ability to get funding form other sources, and Inman said it would. The supervisors agreed to fund the groups, but looked at the specific recommendation for funding later in the process.
Inman also noted that the recommended budget uses reserve funds with the “understanding that we will be freeing up some money…to backfill the reserves…This is a comfortable level knowing additional money will be available for our reserves.”
The budget committee suggested using $1.7 million of reserves to balance the budget, but that figure was still contingent on the supervisors’ approval of some adjustments to the recommended budget.
State changes impact local departments
The Probation Department is one whose budget is still unsure due to changes at the state level. The biggest change is Assembly Bill 109, which will require state prisoners to be moved to county jails. The impact is that county jails will need to work with more non-violent offenders on probation.
The state is supposed to provide funding for the increased costs, including money for additional officers, mental health and substance abuse treatment programs. But the numbers have not been provided yet.
The probation department, which encompasses probation, the juvenile detention center and the gang prevention coordinator, has some programs that have been funded by the state vehicle licensing fees. Since the increase to the fee expired in June, the state has not allocated funding to the county levels for such programs as Joven Noble, which offers prevention programs for at-risk youth. Though Brent Cardall, the chief probation officer, had a letter from the state saying that it would allocate the vehicle licensing fees after the state legislature agreed to a balanced budget, supervisors were leery to consider the money as part of the budget.
De La Cruz said he’d been in a situation where money was anticipated from the state that did not come in.
“I am sure the money will come in and we will have a cushion,” Cardall said of both the AB 109 funding and the vehicle licensing fees.
The supervisors approved the budgets through temporary due process, without the projected funding from the state. If the funding comes in, Cardall will meet before the supervisors again to amend his department’s budget.
The Mental Health Department is also facing changes from the state. The county contributes $45,000 a year to the department, which recieves the bulk of its recommended $4.1 million budget from the state through the Mental Health Services Act, a 1 percent tax on state residents who make more than $1 million a year.
“This past year we experienced delayed effects of our most significant revenue stream,” said Alan Yamamoto, the director of mental health. “It declined in stride with the recession. The effects were delayed by two years…but we are seeing the erosion.”
The funding provides community service support, prevention and intervention.
Yamamoto said his department has been anticipating the decline and has been putting money away in a reserve fund to help get through lean years.
“We continue to increase productivity and billable service hours,” he said.
Yamamoto also noted that the substance abuse program has been able to keep three staff members whose salaries are paid through a grant. The grant was for four staff members to work on teen alcohol abuse over three years, but by using three staff members to do the work they have extended the grant an additional year. At the end of this year, when grant funding runs out the department will not likely be able to keep those positions.
“It’s a small program because it is poorly funded by the state,” Yamamoto said.
The budget hearings continued until after the Pinnacle’s deadline, with department heads and staff members from all budget units presenting to the supervisors, while allowing supervisors to ask questions. The hearings were open to the public, who also had a chance to comment after each department’s presentation.
Check back for more on this story.
