Hold a public hearing and adopt the County of Yolo budget for fiscal year 2025-26; hold a public hearing as the In-Home Support Services (IHSS) Public Authority Board and approve the IHSS Public Authority budget for fiscal years 2025-26; and approve the 2025-26 budgets for board-controlled Fire Districts. (General fund impact: $133,540,377) (Webb/Haynes/Liddicoet) (Est. Staff Presentation: 20 min)

Background

State law requires that the Board adopt the annual budget by October 2 of each year. The attached budget resolution (Attachment B and Exhibit 1) is based on the FY2025-26 Recommended Budget as approved by the Board of Supervisors on June 10 and revised by the recommendations in this report. These recommendations have been reviewed with the Chair and Vice Chair in accordance with the Board's Governance Manual.

The County Budget Act (Gov. Code Section 29000-29144) establishes levels of authority for approval and modification of the County's budget. Prior to approval of the Adopted Budget, the Board of Supervisors may make changes to the Recommended Budget with a majority vote. Once the Adopted Budget is approved, and upon conclusion of the public hearing, most budgetary changes require a four-fifths vote of the Board. Such changes include transfers between funds, appropriation of any fund balances or unanticipated revenues, transfers from contingency appropriations, and appropriation of reserve balances. If overall appropriations are not increased, transfers between budget units within a fund only require a majority vote. If overall appropriations are not increased, staff may perform transfers or changes within a budget unit administratively.

Preliminary Fund Balance Report
 

The Preliminary Fund Balance Report is a general accounting of the fund balances for all County funds as of June 30, 2025, which is normally provided as an attachment to the Adopted Budget. Due to a lengthy close process, staff will be providing this report as part of either the year-end variance or Midyear analysis process.

FY2025-26 Adopted Budget

On June 10, 2025, the Board approved the FY2025-26 Recommended Budget, which provided appropriation authority until the Adopted Budget is approved. The proposed FY2025-26 Adopted Budget incorporates changes to the Recommended Budget based on revised revenue projections, available fund balances, changes resulting from the State budget, additional department requests and Board priorities.

Since the approval of the Recommended Budget, the broader economy continues to display signs of resiliency despite ongoing turbulence at the Federal level.  Mild concerns of a recession remain and the impacts of Federal reductions to state funding levels has left the County in the precarious position of having to address a structural deficit with the knowledge that support for our most vulnerable populations is under constant threat.  Under these conditions, and with the knowledge that we are facing perhaps years of unknowns at both the state and federal levels, the County continues to experience cost pressures that are greater than the gains in forecasted revenues.

Updated projections reflect an increase in FY2025-26 general purpose revenues of approximately $439,000. These additional dollars are due to anticipated growth in property tax, which was budgeted at 4% in the Recommended Budget, but was returned at 4.5% by the Yolo County Assessor on June 30, and an anticipated increase in Sales Tax. In regard to General Fund unassigned fund balance, the County ended the prior year (FY2024-25) with an estimated $9.88 million in General Fund unassigned fund balance, $880,000 more than what was appropriated in the Recommended Budget. This additional unassigned fund balance allowed the County to mitigate some reductions in state and federal funding streams and avoid further reductions during the Adopted Budget process.

The Adopted Budget also includes a sizable reduction to the General Fund contingency appropriated during the Recommended Budget process. Of the $2.3 million appropriated with the Recommended Budget, only $200,000 remains available before the recommended action to replenish. Staff have reappropriated a majority of these funds ($2.1 million) to fund the general fund portions of required equity adjustments to keep employee salaries at 100% of market and Health benefit package increases. While these equity increases were known and identified during the Recommended process, they had yet to be formalized with various bargaining units.

Economic Outlook

Throughout the Budget Development process, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) and County Administrator updated the Board of Supervisors several times. Initially, at the January 14, 2025, Board meeting, the Board received an update on the budget outlook for the 2025-26 fiscal year and reviewed the Five-Year Financial Forecast. At that meeting, staff updated the Board on the increasing budgetary strain experienced by the County over the past several years, highlighting the dramatic increase of the initial base budget gap and the way it has steadily increased year over year. Staff also illustrated the County’s increasing reliance on salary savings as a budget-balancing tool. While use of this tool has been made possible by the County’s abnormally high vacancy rate since the COVID-19 pandemic, the practice of balancing the budget on such high salary savings is not sustainable. Further, staff stressed the increasing reliance on fund balance to balance the Recommended budget in recent years. This is significant because the recommended budget does not include many one-time expenditures, which means that ongoing operating costs have been increasingly funded with an abnormally high use of fund balances. This presents a particular challenge because fund balances have peaked and are projected to decline in coming years. In FY2024-25, actual fund balances fell short of the projection included in the recommended budget, so additional balancing actions were necessary in the adopted budget.

At the January meeting, staff also presented an updated Five-Year Forecast for the General Fund which, absent corrective action, projected a series of increasing deficits in future years. These projected deficits were consistent with prior versions of the Five-Year Forecast; however, high vacancy rates and the influx of COVID-19 emergency response funding in recent years delayed the impact for several years longer than the original forecast. Staff noted that the projected deficits are not the result of an anticipated economic recession or temporary decline in general purpose revenues. Rather, these deficits are largely due to increases in salary and benefit costs, including pension, OPEB, and employee salaries, to remain competitive with the employment market. Other factors, such as insurance, utility costs, and general inflationary costs, have also contributed.  This has resulted in what is known as a structural budget deficit, where expenditures are fundamentally on a higher trajectory than available revenues. As staff expressed to the Board, addressing this deficit requires long-term, structural solutions.

On March 11th, staff returned to the Board to present a comprehensive Budget Development Update. During this update, DFS shared that while the economy remains resilient, concerns of a recession were rising, and the County was continuing to experience cost pressures that are greater than the gains in forecasted revenues. These cost pressures come from a variety of sources but continue to be driven by increasing salary and benefit costs as we adapt to the effects of regular equity adjustments in our various bargaining units that are needed to keep pace with market averages. The effects of inflation, increased costs for goods, the continued threat of trade wars and the uncertainty of Federal funding further complicate a myriad of projects, programs and services provided by the County. Thus, the challenge for the budget process in the current year and likely future years is to contain costs within available revenue growth while continuing to make progress on Strategic Plan goals and other key initiatives.

Staff again returned to the Board on April 29th to provide an additional Budget Development Update.  At that meeting, staff from DFS and the CAO’s Office shared proposed solutions to balance the County’s budget and discussed a two-pronged approach to addressing the County's structural deficit. This two-pronged approach splits focus on the immediate required balanced Recommended Budget, and a longer-term focus to address the structural deficit.  The presentation also elicited feedback on the proposed budget balancing scenario, with detailed information on balancing strategies provided.

Strategies included implementing a salary savings factor for those departments with a historical trend of vacancies, use of fund balance, base expenditure reductions in services and supplies, use of non-general fund resources where available and the proposed use of the HHSA and CIP reserves, along with a portion of the Audit Disallowance Reserve. Despite use of these strategies, staff shared that a budget gap still remained that required the use of additional reserves to bridge. The Recommended Budget approved by the Board on June 10 largely reflected the balancing scenario presented on April 29th, utilizing a combination of fund balance, salary savings, one-time funding sources, departmental reductions, and reserves to balance.

The Recommended Budget assumed a carryforward General Fund unassigned fund balance of approximately $9 million, which is a decrease of $7 million from the $16 million assumed in the FY2024-25 Recommended Budget. As staff noted earlier in this report and in various Board presentations leading up to the Recommended Budget, there is significant concern that a consequential number of ongoing expenditures are being funded with one-time resources. While it can be expected that some amount of fund balance will be available each year, staff believes that fund balances have peaked and will continue declining in future years. Further, as previously discussed, the increased reliance on salary savings to balance the budget will further reduce available fund balances in future years.  As reflected in the tables below, beginning in the 2024-25 fiscal year, the use of fund balance budgeted in the Recommended Budget was not attained in the close of 2023-24.  As staff has stated previously, prior year fund balance has likely peaked and will begin declining in future fiscal years.
 

General Fund

The General Fund ended FY2024-25 with a preliminary estimated available fund balance of approximately $9.88 million. This is approximately $880,000 more than the $9 million in General Fund unassigned fund balance estimated in the Recommended Budget. This additional unassigned fund balance allowed the County to avoid additional departmental reductions and mitigate reductions to state and federal funding sources in the Adopted Budget. As we plan to address the County’s structural deficit, historical levels of unassigned fund balance cannot be relied on as a budget balancing solution.

For context, the table below shows the unassigned General Fund balance available during the Adopted Budget process over the past five years.
 

The preliminary fund balance for the 2025-26 fiscal year continues to indicate and support staff belief that available fund balance is declining and will likely continue to do so given the increased use of salary savings as a budget balancing solution.

For reference, while not as high as what appears to be the high point during the last Adopted Budget process, Salary Savings outside of HHSA has increased in the Adopted Budget.  This continued reliance on salary savings as a balancing solution rather than addressing the underlying issue of the County’s ongoing structural deficit, if left unchecked, will continue to cause complications to both reliable staffing patterns and long-term projections regarding the County’s financial stability and sustainability.
 

The Recommended Budget included anticipated property tax growth of 4 percent. The growth in property assessments reported by the County Assessor following approval of the Recommended Budget was 4.5 percent, providing an additional $332,230 in property tax revenue to add during the Adopted Budget process. Additionally, Sales Tax revenue is anticipated to increase $107,110 from what was budgeted in the Recommended Budget. The projected FY2025-26 general purpose ongoing revenues have been revised to reflect an increase of $439,340.

The table below provides a summary of the recommended additional General Fund funding sources and uses. Following the table, information regarding the series of one-time funding solutions has been provided. Attachment C provides a detailed listing of the recommended funding uses, while Attachment D further describes department requests that are not recommended for funding. 

FY2025-26 Adopted Budget General Fund Summary

Chula Vista Earnings
The Chula Vista fund was established in 2021 to accumulate additional property tax revenues as a result of changes in the way residual tax increment revenues are distributed to taxing agencies in the wake of the Chula Vista v. Sandoval court case. Per Board resolution, the Chula Vista fund is to be used only for:

In the FY24-25 Adopted Budget, the use of $1,483,261 in available Chula Vista funds were appropriated to make a contribution to the General Reserve. At this time, staff recommend not making the approved contribution to the reserve and instead reallocating those funds to assist the County in addressing the costs associated with the immediate response to the Oakdale Fire.

Oakdale Fire
In the immediate response to the July 2025 Oakdale Fire, various County departments incurred expenses which are currently being absorbed into departmental operating budgets.  The Adopted Budget proposes the addition of a $750,000 appropriation for the express purpose of covering expenses already incurred related to the Oakdale Fire, such as hazardous materials response and direct support to residents. While total costs for this incident are not yet fully determined, and efforts are still underway to identify external funding options for reducing net county cost associated with this event, staff will likely return to the Board with options for funding any additional expenses related to this event at a later date.

Position Adjustments
While the Adopted Budget does include a total of 4 new positions, no positions are funded by the General Fund. All 4.0 positions are fully funded by a variety of other non-General Fund sources that must be used for specific purposes. There are 47.5 positions recommended for elimination, all from the Health & Human Services Agency.  Many of these positions were previously unfunded during the Recommended Budget.  Following internal analysis by the department, they are now recommended for elimination.  The proposed changes equate to a net reduction of 43.5 positions.

The table below summarizes position changes that are recommended in the Adopted Budget. Attachment G provides a comprehensive overview of all position changes and requested positions that are not recommended at this time.
 

Given the prevalence of one-time strategies used to balance the FY2025-26 budget and considering the financial challenges the County faces in future fiscal years, the Adopted Budget takes a status quo approach when considering additions.  The Adopted Budget instead focuses on ensuring our commitments are met, while adding very few new obligations.

County Departments

The following sections provide an overview of the County department budgets. The narrative includes discussion about adjustments to balance the FY2025-26 Adopted Budget, a summary of major programs, as well as highlights of significant budget changes. Items recommended to be funded with non-general funds are included in Attachment E.

Agriculture
The Adopted Budget for Agriculture includes an increase of $42,000. The majority of that increase is funded by available fund balance in the Agriculture Equipment Replacement Fund to finance the purchase of a previously approved Ford Lightning electric truck to replace a gas truck, as required by California Air Resources Board standards. The remainder of the increase ($3,300) is funded through an increase in General Fund due to internal charge fluctuations from the Recommended Budget.

The department requested a total of approximately $22,000 for projected internal promotions, which are not recommended for funding at this time.

Assessor/Clerk Recorder/Elections (ACE)
The Adopted Budget for ACE includes increases in both expenses and revenues primarily due to the addition of the November 2025 special election and the budgeting of projects within the Clerk Recorder’s special funds.

Minor adjustments are recommended within the Assessor’s division. These include adjustments to internal charges, such as General Liability insurance costs and IT internal charges. Additionally, the division included one augmentation request for $8,500 to finance the Map Preservation Project. This project is for the imaging and preservation of map books in the Assessor’s office.  This request will be funded utilizing State Supplementation for County Assessors’ Program dollars and has no general fund impact.  Staff recommends approval of this augmentation request.
 
The Elections division is anticipating a sizable revenue increase of $1,385,000.  The increase is attributed to a local measure that will be included on the June 2026 primary election ballot, as well as the November 2025 special election that will be fully paid for by the state.  Partially offsetting these additional revenues are an additional $982,000 in expenses that include election staffing and postage and printing expenses for the two elections mentioned previously, as well as adjustments to internal charges. 
 
The Elections division submitted a single augmentation request of $4,500 for the Youth Empowerment Summit (YES!) event. This event is hosted by ACE annually and is intended to foster civic engagement in high school students.  Staff recommends approval of this augmentation request utilizing Cannabis Tax funds.
 
The Clerk-Recorder division is anticipating additional revenues of $92,000.  This increase is the result of the June 2025 Master Fee update, which increased many of the division's internal fees ($80,000) and increased recording fee revenue in the Micrographics Conversion unit ($12,000).
 
Augmentation requests in the Clerk-Recorder division include requests for $130,000 for the file room remodel project ($120,000) and to furnish the new offices that are currently under construction ($10,000).  Both requests are anticipated to be paid for using restricted fund balances in the Clerk Recorder’s special funds and are recommended for approval.

Board of Supervisors
The Adopted Budget for the Board of Supervisors includes a reduction of $9,400 related to decreased costs related to various Internal charges and General Liability coverage. The department did not submit any Augmentation requests.

Regional Child Support Agency
The Regional Child Support Agency's Adopted Budget includes adjustments to internal charges as well as a shifting of funding to professional services in order to contract process serving work, as well as some miscellaneous contractual increases. Overall, the department is decreasing their budget by approximately $80,000.  The Regional Child Support Agency is funded through state and federal revenues and receives no general fund support.

Community Services
The Adopted Budget for the Department of Community Services includes an overall decrease of over $4 million from the Recommended Budget, with the majority of this decrease in the Roads Division due to capital project updates. Net changes to the General Fund result in an increase of about $95,000, due mostly the inclusion of funding for the Well Ordinance Update for Environmental Health. Other notable changes are noted by division below.  
 
The Animal Services Division requested a part-time Office Support Specialist position due to findings from Grand Jury reports and a general need for more support as observed after the switch from the Sheriff’s Office to Community Services. As this position is not specifically aligned to public safety and has no legal obligations for provision, the County is not recommending this request be approved at this time. Additionally, evaluation of Animal Services governance structure options is currently underway by the CAO's office and is expected to come to the Board in early 2026 for discussion and action on the future of Animal Services.  In light of this, adding net new positions is not recommended at this time until the question of future governance structure is settled. The Adopted Budget for Animal Services also includes Accumulated Capital Outlay (ACO) funding of $585,000.  The shelter is in the process of addressing a number of deferred maintenance projects, along with other shelter improvements, and completion of the "Clinic in a Can" project, which ACO dollars are recommended to support. There are no other updates to this unit.
 
There are significant changes in the Planning division as zoning permit revenues were adjusted to align with historical actuals, as were anticipated expenditures.  This results in an overall budget reduction of over $550,000. However, the net result of County General Fund change is only $150. The division submitted two augmentation requests, the first for $300,000 in seed funding to allow code enforcement to abate nuisance properties within their authority. The department reports that it can take up to 4 years to collect abatement costs from the owners of these properties, and the $300,000 would serve as startup funding to begin the process of abating properties. The other augmentation request is for $75,000 to initiate a Planning Fee Study. Since the last study was completed in 2021, the County completed the move to 100% of market compensation, leaving the currently charged fees outdated and no longer reflecting accurate costs. The study would result in higher revenue receipts through fees, which would ultimately offset the cost of the study. Staff recommend approval of the $75,000 request for a Planning Fee study.  

The Water Resources Division Adopted Budget includes a decrease of almost $900,000 due to the transfer of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and state-funded projects into other divisions within the department. The remaining budget in this unit will be used to operate the Cache Creek Mining Plan as other functions that had previously been assigned to this division have also moved elsewhere. This leads to a net general fund decrease of $14,903 in the unit.

The Roads Division budget includes decreases of almost $3 million due to updates to ongoing capital projects and adjustments to fund balance use. Staff recommend an augmentation request to add two new Roads Maintenance Workers to staff the recently purchased Striping Truck. Approval of this augmentation will allow for a dedicated striping crew to begin working throughout the County, in lieu of contracting this work out, providing the County with considerable cost savings in the long run, as well as faster response times to striping needs and resolving safety issues as they arise.  Having a fully operational "in-house" striping crew may also lead to the ability for the County to "contract" such services to other local jurisdictions in need of such services. These two new positions will be completely funded by the Roads Fund.
 
The Integrated Waste Management Division includes a decrease of about $1 million overall, mostly due to shifts in funding transfers within the unit. There have been some increases, about $700,000, in commercial landfill fees due to methodology changes. These fees will offset increased professional service contracts. There is an augmentation request which is recommended for approval in this unit, for the conversion of a Digestor Operator position to an Engineering Technician position, as funding for the Operator has ceased, and the employee needs to change job tasks. This is an overall increase of $14,021 and funded with internal fees.

The proposed budget for Environmental Health includes updates to internal charge accounts as well as OPEB/Retirement recalculations which result in a net general fund decrease of almost $500. However, Environmental Health has requested $107,000 of additional General Fund support to initiate the Environmental Health Well Ordinance Update. This is necessary to update the County’s well permitting process which includes recent modifications in urgency Ordinance 1569 and updates to DWR Bulletin 74. The County recommends approval of this request.

County Administrator's Office
The Adopted Budget for the County Administrator's Office includes an increase of $637,000 in net county cost due to the budgetary relocation of the Climate Sustainability division from the Department of Community Services ($630,000).  There is a commensurate reduction in net county cost in Community Services that offsets this increase. The department is also expecting increases in various internal charges, an increased net county cost of $7,000.

The County Administrator's Office was approached by the Yolo County Office of Education and was asked to submit a $100,000 augmentation on their behalf for continued funding of the Youth Commission.  Due to limited funding availability, staff do not recommend approval of this augmentation. 

County Counsel
The Adopted Budget for County Counsel includes an overall increase of $8,080 of General Fund. There were minor re-adjustments to internal charges such as telecom, insurance, and IT charges. Pension and OPEB adjustments caused a decrease in their General Fund usage by approximately $60,000. These savings have been offset by adjustments to Salaries and Benefits due to internal promotions since the Recommended Budget development process.

The department did not request any augmentations.

County Service Areas (CSAs)
Staff recommend adjustments to several County Service Area budgets to re-align expenditures with anticipated revenues. This includes an additional $450,000 to the Snowball CSA for the Deferred Maintenance Program, which will be fully funded by the Department of Water Resources. There is also an increase of $1.3 million to the Wild Wings Water Grant unit for increased state funding for their well project. Finally, the Wild Wings Golf Course unit requests an increase of about $100,000 to recognize additional fees that are expected to be received and used to offset contractual services to maintain the golf course. All of these requests have no impact on the General Fund.

District Attorney
Staff recommend adjustments to the District Attorney's Adopted Budget resulting from adjustments to Workers Compensation, Public Liability and various other internal charges that were unknown during the Recommended Budget process.

The department submitted an augmentation related to the Oakdale Fire as it has shifted several of its District Attorney Investigators from normal cases to dedicated work on this incident. In order to maintain ongoing standard investigations and ensure a comprehensive investigation as it pertains to the Oakdale incident, the department has requested $963,000 to retain extra help investigators, provide for necessary overtime, equipment, and external consultants.  Staff recommend approval of this request.

A request of $100,000 was also submitted to fund necessary expert witness and transcription costs related to the retrying of the Dominguez case.  Staff recommend approval of these expenses, but do not recommend additional General Fund dollars at this time.  In the 2023-24 fiscal year, the department received $300,000 for costs associated with expert witness support as it relates to the Racial Justice Act (RJA).  The department has carried forward $281,000 of that funding for the past two fiscal years.  Staff recommend the department utilize these funds for expert witness and transcription costs associated with the Dominguez case, and work closely with DFS should RJA expert witness costs increase beyond existing appropriations.

Staff also recommend approval and the addition of one Deputy District Attorney IV funded by the Consumer Fraud and Environmental Protection fund.  The department also requested two additional new positions within this fund, a Legal Process Clerk and a Senior Administrative Services Analyst.  While staff have no concerns about the addition of these positions given the funding source, they are not recommended at this time. Given the County’s financial situation, staff recommend deferring the addition of these positions until at least the mid-year monitoring process.

The Adopted Budget also addresses an omission from the Equipment List that was made during the Recommended Budget process.  Staff recommends the addition of a Vehicle License Reader, funded by state revenues, to the Equipment List. Funding for this expense was approved with the FY25-26 Recommended Budget.

The District Attorney’s Office also requested $90,000 in vehicle replacement for its Criminal Prosecution division, $13,500 in food for the department's snack pantry, $166,000 in vacation buyback funding, along with a $406,000 increase to the department's Extra Help budget. Due to the limited availability of both ongoing and one-time funding, these requests are not recommended for approval.

Financial Services
The Department of Financial Services (DFS) Adopted Budget includes an overall increase in the use of General Fund of approximately $45,000. This is a result of minor adjustments in internal charges and re-calculation of Pension/OPEB, which impacted administrative allocations and Satellite Finance charges. The department requested funding for 4 promotions:
 

In addition, there is a request for the replacement of a check scanner used in Treasury division that is roughly 8 years old. This one-time cost will be funded by Treasury’s Pool Cost Reimbursement.

Staff recommend approving the Accounting Technician promotion and check scanner funded by the Treasury’s Pool Cost Reimbursement. The remaining augmentations are not recommended for approval due to a lack of funding availability.

General Services
The General Services Adopted Budget submission includes augmentation requests for many new and ongoing projects.  These projects are requested to be funded with a variety of funding sources that include ACO (Accumulated Capital Outlay), American Rescue Plan funds, General Fund, and Parks Development Impact Fees (DIF).  Requests from each division are outlined below.
 
Procurement
The Procurement division’s Adopted Budget includes minimal changes to the Retirement and OPEB accounts in the division.  As part of the submission, an augmentation request of $200,000 is included for Procurement consulting services to provide solicitation development, solicitation management, evaluation oversight, presentation, contract award negotiation.  Staff recommends approval of this request as Health and Human Services has budgeted $165,000 for the majority of this expense while the remaining $35,000 is to be funded by departments who utilize the consulting service throughout the year.
 
Airport
The Airport’s budget includes the addition of a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration totaling $170,620 to be used to rehabilitate existing paved runway to maintain the structural integrity and minimize foreign object debris. These grant funds are intended to fund phase 1 of the project, which includes design.  Lastly, one augmentation request totaling $45,000 for a leasing and operations consultant at the Airport was submitted but is not recommended for funding due to limited general fund availability.
 
Tuli Mem Park and Pool
The Tuli Mem Park and Pool Adopted Budget includes two augmentation requests.  The first request is for funding for the purchase of a Gator Utility Vehicle for Tuli Mem ($30,000), which is not recommended for approval given the limited amount of funding available.  The second request is for the addition of a Parks and Facilities Worker II.  This position would be tasked with maintaining Tuli Mem Park due to its size and complexity.  The addition of this park and the Knights Landing Community Park have added to the portfolio of properties maintained by the Parks Division, likely necessitating additional staff support.  While not recommended at this time, staff are continuing to explore opportunities for augmenting Parks staff with limited impact to the General Fund.  
 
Parks
The Parks and Recreation division is anticipating an increase in grant revenues of $20,274 due to the addition of the Yolo Basin Foundation Grant in the Grasslands Regional Park cost center.  Expenses in the unit are expected to increase as well as due to an increase in the price of portable toilets of approximately $3,600.  Other changes in the Parks Division include adjustment to OPEB and Pension retirement accounts as these were used as part of the balancing solution during the Recommended Budget process.
 
The Parks Adopted Budget includes approximately $193,200 in augmentation requests that can be found in the table below.
 

 
Augmentation requests for the Parks Division include equipment requests for a new Parks Mower and Attachment as well as a new Parks vehicle as the current vehicle is recommended for replacement by the Fleet division.  Purchase of the mower and attachment have been approved for purchase using American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds and are included as part of the FY 2025/26 Equipment List.  Staff does not currently recommend approval of the Parks Vehicle due to the general fund ask associated with the request.
 
Additional requests include a request for $60,200 in funding for Putah Creek planning.  The request will allow for planning efforts related to the revitalization and refurbishment of Putah Creek fishing access sites which may include staff time, consultants, and feasibility studies.  Lastly, the final augmentation request is for $18,000 for a new Park Reservation system.  The system would be used to facilitate reservations for fields, picnic tables, events, pool reservation/swim lessons at many County Parks.  Due to unavailability of funding these requests are not recommended at this time.

Staff recommend approval of a $10,000 request for repairs for the Grasslands Regional Park water system.  This system provides water to support grazing for habitat management, solar fields for cleaning, park vegetation growth, and patrons. Funding from the ACO will allow for engineering work on a long-term solution to begin. 

Facilities
The Facilities Division Adopted Budget includes the rebudgeting of projects from prior years that include the Human Resources office remodel and Beam Roof Consulting Services agreement that are both funded with Accumulated Capital Outlay (ACO) funds.
 
Additionally, the Facilities division submitted augmentation requests for equipment, construction, positions, and consulting services that are referenced in the table below.  The department has identified other potential funding for many of these items to minimize the general fund impact of these requests. 

 
 
The table above includes a request for an Energy Manager position.  Staff recommends approval of this augmentation request, as the position will utilize funding from a California Energy Commission Grant as well as funds from the Climate Sustainability Tipping Fee revenue. The Energy Manager position will provide technical oversight of the County’s solar fields, will manage the proposed EV charging infrastructure, and continuously monitor and improve the County’s overall energy efforts as well as grants management and County Climate Action and Adaptation Plan implementation in partnership with Climate Sustainability.  This position is expected to have a positive return on investment over time as greater energy efficiencies and cost savings are realized.
 
Additionally, included is an ADA Transition Plan request of $400,000 that is to be funded by Community Services while led by the General Services Department.  The Federal Government and California Department of Transportation require that all public agencies that receive federal transportation funding conduct an ADA Transition Plan every five years and a Compliance Review Assessment every year. Staff recommends approval of this request as it is to be funded by the Roads fund and has no general fund impact.
 
Two requests were identified for ACO funding.  An augmentation request was submitted for improvements to the Justice Campus Well ($192,500) and the rebudgeting of ACO funding to conduct the Justice Campus Well Cost Benefit Analysis ($26,319).  Staff does not recommend approval of the additional ACO request for the Justice Campus Well at the present time as there is an ongoing study occurring, however there will likely be future costs associated with repairing the well or connecting to city water.  However, staff recommends proceeding with the previously approved Justice Well Cost Benefit Analysis.
  
Other augmentation requests include requests for two replacement vehicles, funding to conduct a Facilities Conditions Assessment to prioritize repairs and improvements/replacements,  Phase 1 and 2 of the Key Card Access Control Project, funds for Courthouse abatement to remove residual lead paint, funding for structural engineering evaluations for certain County buildings, and funding for consulting for title reports on real estate property.  Staff only recommends approval of the Facilities Conditions Assessment at this time, as this will be funded with Development Impact Fees and carries no general fund obligation.

Natural Resources
Staff anticipates returning to the Board with further adjustments to the General Services budget once the finalization of a proposal to re-organize and integrate the Natural Resources division of Community Services and the Parks Division of General Services is completed.  This new division would also include a position that would be under contract with the Yolo Habitat Conservancy to serve as its Executive Director. This new structure will consolidate programs to provide better coordination of habitat preservation, restoration, open space, and public access goals.  The Natural Resources Division is responsible for implementing and monitoring the Cache Creek Area Plan (CCAP) including the Off Channel Mining Program (OCMP) and Cache Creek Resources Program (CCRMP).  This includes habitat restoration functions, preservation of existing habitat in the lower Cache Creek area, and development the Cache Creek Parkway.  The Park Planning function coordinates habitat restoration, habitat preservation, park capital projects, and grant activities in county parkland, of which some parkland is in the CCAP. 

The Natural Resources Division and staffing for the Yolo Habitat Conservancy (YHC) currently resides in the Department of Community Services and recently before that, in the County Administrator’s Office.  The Parks function currently resides in the General Services Department.  This re-organization will consolidate all of these functions under the General Services Department. The goal of this anticipated proposal is improved collaboration across all three functions resulting in multi-benefit projects and increased competitiveness for grant opportunities. 

The plan consists of the following:

Development of this re-organization plan has been a collaboration with YHC and various county departments. Additional details to implement these position adjustments will be provided to the Board in October, with filling of vacancies to begin in earnest following.  The budget impact for these changes is expected to be cost neutral. 

Human Resources
The Human Resources Adopted Budget includes updates to internal charges such as IT charges, General Liability insurance premiums, Workers Compensation insurance premiums, and the capturing of position changes in the department.  Each Human Resources unit is described below.

The Human Resources main operations unit is anticipating an increase in revenues of $1,315,410.  This is solely due to Health and Human Services dedicated staff that are now under the Human Resources department due to a reorganization.  Salaries and benefits in the unit are also anticipated to see in an increase primarily due to this reorganization, as well as due to position promotions and reclassifications within the Human Resources department.  The department is also seeing an anticipated increase in Salaries and Benefits due to the transfer and refunding of an HR Personnel Assistant from the County Administrators Office to the Human Resources Department. This position was inadvertently unfunded in the Recommended Budget but is an existing position that should have been funded. To meet HR needs in light of an inability to approve the requested augmentations (below), staff also recommend the position be converted from Personnel Assistant to Senior Payroll Technician.
 
Augmentation submissions in the main Human Resources operating unit include position requests for a Senior Payroll Technician, an Executive Assistant position, a request for funds to conduct dual language testing ($40,000) and a request to replenish the employee recognition budget in the unit of $10,000.  Based on the current economic conditions and the general fund impact of these augmentations, staff does not recommend these items for funding.
 
The Risk Management division is expected to see a decrease in both revenues and expenses in the unit.  During the Recommended Budget process, estimates were used to calculate internal charges until actual premium amounts become available.  This year, premiums were lower than expected for Workers Compensation, General Liability, and Property insurances resulting in reduced revenues and a reduction in expenses related to the insurance premium costs. 
 
The Risk Management division has augmentation requests totaling $15,500 in their Adopted Budget submission.  Requests include $7,500 for safety trainings that include training for the use of the AED machine, funds for transportation and travel expenses related to trainings, and a request to replenish employee engagement funds in the Risk Management unit that are intended for individuals who attend trainings and receive certifications.  Staff are not recommending these items due to limited general fund funding. However, staff is exploring alternative funding options, such as through the County's insurance JPA YCPARMIA.

Health & Human Services Agency
The 2025-26 Adopted Budget for the Health & Human Services Agency includes an increase of about $481,000 in general fund and an overall increase of about $17 million. The general fund increase is related to the return of the VITA and Eat Well contracts which were inadvertently removed with the Recommended Budget ($185K) and general increases needed in Child Welfare Services as a result of personnel increases and the inability of various revenue sources to keep pace with those increases.

Importantly, the Adopted Budget for HHSA does not include any proposed reductions to MHSA as the department works to transition to BHSA. Any adjustments to those programs will be brought before the Board in a separate budget item at a future date.  

As with the Recommended Budget, the department is proposing the elimination of various vacant positions to assist in addressing the agency’s structural deficit.  The additional positions are reflected in the table below.
 

The Child, Youth, and Family division’s Adopted Budget includes a decrease of about $2.6 million from Recommended, but an increase of about $296,000 in General Fund contribution. This is necessary due to a dramatic decrease of about $3.7 million in state and federal revenues. This deficit is made up through a significant decrease in expenditures ($2 million) and increase in General Fund and Realignment contributions. Expenditure reductions are being achieved through eliminating positions noted above as well as general operational decreases, including a reduction of $450,000 in transportation and travel and $2.7 million decreases in contractual services to align budget amounts to historical expenditure trends.
 
The overall budget for Public Health decreased by $1.5 million from the Recommended Budget with no General Fund impact. All of the decrease is accounted for by vacant position eliminations, noted in the table above, which total almost $2 million in reductions in this division. While there are some reductions in operational accounts, the net effect is an overall increase of about $150,000 due mostly to contractual obligation increases. Additionally, the amount of administrative overhead charged into this branch increases by $350,000. Despite the overall decrease in expenditures, more Realignment revenues are being budgeted to offset decreases in fines, federal assistance, and IGT revenues.

The Service Centers Branch has increased their overall budget by about $4.8 million, funded mostly through additional federal assistance and some minor updates to General Fund usage. The majority of this increase, about $4.5 million, is due to removing salary savings that were not reasonably expected to occur but included with the Recommended Budget. The remainder of spending is due to contractual increases, re-budgeting the remainder of the Pacifico Housing Project, and increases in administrative overhead charges.

Adult & Aging’s Adopted Budget has an overall decrease of about $6 million from the Recommended Budget. This is due to eliminating additional positions, as shown in the table above, as well as some significant reductions in operational expenditures. These include $300,000 in IT charges, $400,000 in Transportation & Travel, $1.4 million in Professional Services, and over $3 million in support payments. Despite significant expenditure reductions, realignment use increased significantly from Recommended. This is due to decreases in Medi-Cal reimbursements, IGT Fund, MHSA Fund, and General Fund Support.

In addition to the above, there are several augmentations to the HHSA Adopted Budget detailed below. All of these augmentation requests are funded through intergovernmental or special source revenues and have no impact on overall General Fund. In the case of use of realignment funds, augmentations are due to state mandate. Therefore, approval of these augmentations is recommended.
 

Innovation and Technology Services (ITS)
The Innovation and Technology Services (ITS) department’s Adopted Budget includes an increase in the department’s net county cost of approximately $98,000. This increase is due to a reduction in revenues primarily in the Department Systems and Direct bill silos of IT.  In Department Systems, revenues are decreasing due to the reduction of GIS services provided to County departments.  Partially offsetting the reductions in revenues are reductions in salaries and benefits as well as professional services agreements related to on-call GIS services.  In the Direct Bill silo, revenues and expenses are also reduced due to the removal of Health and Human Services dedicated positions as well as updates related to the departmental salary allocation. Additional requests in the IT budget include a $6,600 base budget request for a WFM license audit which is intended to account for the increase in the number of WFM licenses allocated to Yolo County.

Library
The Library's FY2025-26 Adopted Budget includes an overall increase of General Fund usage of approximately $500. This is a result of adjustments to internal charges and revisions to Pension and OPEB calculations due to the updated rates. The department is increasing extra help expenditures by $18,000 due to the re-opening of Sunday hours at the Arthur F. Turner Library. The expense will be funded by dedicated Library property tax funds.

There are no augmentation requests by the department.

Probation
Probation’s Adopted Budget includes minor adjustments to Pension/OPEB, administrative overhead, and changes to internal charges, which include insurance, pest control, IT charges, telecom, and fleet charges. The department also received revised amounts from the State that impacted revenues, such as Prop 172 and Realignment, which decreased by a total of $141,000. Additionally, due to the Governor’s May Revise Budget, Community Correction Partnership allocations were reduced by a total of $643,000, with $365,000 related to the three CCP funds: treatment, innovation, and administration. Partially offsetting these reductions is an increase in Probation’s Cal-AIM revenues by $192,000 due to savings from the prior year that rolled over. This was placed into the administrative division, which generated savings throughout the department due to lower administrative allocation expenses.

The department submitted two augmentation requests. The first is to refund and re-classify a vacant Administrative Clerk II position to an Office Support Specialist to assist the management team with administrative tasks. This request has a general fund impact of approximately $97,000. Additionally, there is a request to re-classify the vacant Assistant Chief Probation Officer position to Probation Division Manager to meet the management needs of the department. This position will be partially (50%) funded with Cal-AIM funds and other special revenue funds in the Juvenile Detention Facility. Staff recommend approving the reclassification of the Assistant Chief Probation Officer position but does not recommend approving the reclassification of the Administrative Clerk II position due to limited funding available.

Public Defender
The Public Defender's Adopted Budget includes anticipated reductions in Revocation and Community Correction Partnership funding ($106,000), along with an increase in anticipated costs associated with legal research services.

The Public Defender's Office also requested 3 new Deputy Public Defender positions, a new Paralegal position, a new Public Defender Investigator, and a new Mitigation Specialist, totaling approximately $1.23 million. Additionally, a replacement vehicle was requested in the investigations/mitigation units as the current vehicle exceeds 100,000 miles. Due to the limited funding available during the Adopted Budget, staff are not recommending these items for approval. However, as a vital county service, staff is dedicated to exploring options and ideas for how to bring greater long-term sustainability to the Public Defenders Office staffing model over time, especially in light of workload factors that are creating additional stresses and burdens on staff.  Additionally, the Public Defender is continuously seeking grant opportunities to augment the department's budget.  Staff is also exploring opportunities to reallocate an existing underutilized vehicle from elsewhere in the County fleet and reassign it to the Public Defenders Office.

Sheriff
The Sheriff’s Adopted Budget includes adjustments to Public Liability, Workers Compensation and various internal charges. Due to reductions in 2011 Realignment funding, the department saw a considerable reduction in anticipated state revenues, particularly in Court Security ($68,000) and the Community Corrections Partnership ($280,000) which have required additional General Fund support.

Additionally, the Sheriff's Adopted Budget also includes $600,000 to replace multiple vehicles in the Patrol Division.  Staff recommends the use of $300,000 in Small and Rural funds, along with $300,000 in General Fund to finance these vehicles. Staff also recommends the use of Small and Rural funds ($275,000) for the purpose of refitting an existing County owned vehicle from HHSA to serve as a mobile command center.

The department also requested $880,000 to replace multiple vehicles throughout the department. This includes Boat Patrol, Management, Detective, and Coroner vehicles. Requests for a Mixed Reality Use of Force Training system ($680,000) and increases to maintenance budgets ($27,000) were also submitted. Given the small amount of additional one-time funding available, these are not recommended for approval.

Contingencies
The County policy on Fund Balance and Reserves identifies appropriations for contingencies as the first line of defense against uncertainty in the annual budget. It provides that the County Administrator will recommend a specific level of appropriation for contingency, usually between 1% to 3% of total budgeted expenditures. The proposed Adopted Budget includes a net reduction of $1,774,501 in appropriation for the General Fund contingency, as outlined below. The use of contingency funds will require subsequent approval by a 4/5 vote of the Board of Supervisors.

General Fund Contingency – The amount of $2,300,000 or 1.3% was approved in the FY2025-26 Recommended Budget. This amount is being reduced by $1,774,501 to fund known equity and health benefit package increases. A General Fund contingency amount of $525,499 or 0.20% remains available.

Reserves (Attachment J)
 

General Reserve – The Board Policy on Fund Balance and Reserves establishes a General Reserve target of 10% of average General Fund expenditures.  The FY24-25 contribution to the reserve ($1.483 million) was not made and is instead recommended for redirection to fund the County’s immediate response to the Oakdale Fire.  At this time, staff does not recommend an additional contribution to the reserve.  The reserve currently sits at $23.9 million, or 8% of the Board's goal.

 

CIP Reserves – The available balance of the CIP Reserve was utilized to balance the Recommended Budget. No contribution is recommended at this time. The balance in the CIP Reserve is $0.

 

Audit Disallowance Reserve – Each year, the state and federal government audit a variety of programs and may disallow payments for a variety of reasons.  The Audit Disallowance Reserve protects the County against the risk of disallowances that result in a claw back of state or federal funding.  As part of the FY2025-26 Recommended Budget, $1,236,687 of the available balance of the Audit Disallowance Reserve was utilized to balance the budget.   The remaining balance in the Audit Disallowance Reserve is $1,363,313. No additional contribution is recommended at this time.

 

Liability Reserve – The liability reserve protects against future litigation or claims against the County. County Counsel has indicated that a liability reserve of $600,000 should be sufficient to protect the County from litigation exposure. Because the County has met this threshold, no additional contributions are necessary for FY2025-26.

The tables below summarize the total reserve and contingency amounts included in the FY2025-26 Adopted Budget, inclusive of amounts that were previously approved in the Recommended Budget.  
 

 

 

Community Corrections Partnership
The proposed Adopted Budget for the Community Corrections Partnership (CCP) reflects an anticipated decrease in both base and growth allocations, decreasing overall anticipated revenue in the fund by approximately $1,000,000 over the Recommended Budget. The Adopted budget for the CCP is reflected in the table below:
 

The CCP moved to percentage-based budgeting in FY2021-22. Expenditures in the FY2025-26 CCP budget make investments into programs and staffing that align with the updated Strategic Plan. The CCP will return to the BOS in January to present its annual report.

Cannabis Tax Expenditure Plan
In FY2024-25, the County received approximately $595,000 in Cannabis Tax revenue and had additional interest earnings and unallocated funds from prior years for a total of $728,500 available to allocate. The County appropriated $674,000 during the recommended budget on June 10, 2025, leaving $54,500 available for allocation in the Adopted Budget.  Of that amount, $4,500 is recommended to be allocated for the County’s matching contribution to ACE’s Youth Empowerment Summit program, which educates high school students about voting and civic engagement. The remaining $50,000 is recommended to be allocated to support at-risk MHSA programs. As the Board is aware, the MHSA fund faces a structural deficit, which is compounded by the pending transition to BHSA in 2026-27. While this additional revenue will not resolve the structural deficit, it is proposed to be used to extend the runway for programs already under contract such as the K-12 School Partnership or NAMI Yolo.

The proposed Cannabis Tax Expenditure Plan was presented to the Cannabis Ad Hoc Subcommittee on September 17, 2025, and to the Citizens' Oversight Committee on September 19, 2025.

Capital and Maintenance Projects

Accumulated Capital Outlay (ACO)
The proposed Adopted Budget for Accumulated Capital Outlay (ACO) includes $26,319 in funding for a feasibility study pertaining to the water well on the Justice Campus, in addition to $375,500 for the abrogation of the Grasslands Regional Park, as approved by the Board of Supervisors on August 26, 2025.  

The ACO fund also includes approximately $120,000 in expenditures related to a remodel of the Human Resources office.  This remodel is necessary to accommodate the consolidation of HR staff into a central location. Staff recommends approval of this appropriation.  The Adopted Budget for the ACO also includes $585,000 in funding for Animal Services.  The shelter is in the process of addressing a number of deferred maintenance projects, along with other shelter improvements, and completion of the "Clinic in a Can" project, which ACO dollars are recommended to support.

The proposed ACO Adopted Budget also includes $200,000 for the implementation of a new timekeeping system. The County’s current timekeeping system, WFM, does not have the functionality needed to meet the County’s business requirements, particularly related to personnel cost allocations. Staff across the County, and particularly in HHSA, time study to various programs and funding sources. Currently, at the conclusion of each pay period, staff must spend multiple days processing journal entries to allocate staff time to the appropriate programs. To address this and other functionality needs, a Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued several months ago to evaluate options to replace the WFM system. System demonstrations by the highest ranked vendors are scheduled for the end of October.

Additionally, staff recommends approval of the rebudgeting of various ongoing ACO projects, which cross multiple fiscal years. A complete listing of ACO projects included in the FY25-26 Adopted Budget is attached to this staff report as Attachment K.

Capital Improvement Program
The Adopted Budget includes continued funding for the Yolo Bypass West Levee Outfall, Tuli Mem, and South Davis Library Projects. Minor adjustments are being made to those budgets to reflect timing updates since approval of the Recommended Budget.

Carryforward Appropriations
The FY2025-26 Adopted Budget includes $3.9 million in unused appropriations from FY2024-25 that will be encumbered and carried forward into FY2025-26. These appropriations are for one-time purchases that have been ordered but not yet paid for, or for specific one-time projects or initiatives that were not completed by year-end. Examples include vehicle purchases that have not yet been invoiced, or contingency funds awarded for a specific project that had not yet been completed. The purpose of carryforward appropriations is to ensure sufficient budgetary authority to meet contractual obligations and to carry out Board directives. A summary of carryforward items and amounts by department is provided in Attachment A. All carryforward appropriations have been incorporated into the FY2025-26 Adopted Budget and are included in the budget totals reflected in the budget resolution Attachment B, Exhibit C1.

Looking Ahead
Looking past the Adopted Budget, the County has several additional significant fiscal matters in various stages of being addressed that are important to highlight for the Board's awareness.

Labor Negotiations
Since the Recommended Budget was approved, the County completed labor negotiations with several bargaining units whose agreements expired on June 30, 2025. These agreements have resulted in higher labor costs for these labor units.  As mentioned earlier in this report, the impacts of these adjustments were contemplated in the Recommended Budget and have resulted in an adjustment to the General Fund Contingency amount.  One bargaining unit (Deputy Sheriff) will begin negotiations during the current fiscal year, with the outcome of those negotiations needing to be addressed in the FY26-27 Recommended Budget.  

Pension Funding
The FY2025-26 Adopted Budget includes $63.9 million in employer pension contributions, a reduction of $2.9 million from the FY2025-26 Recommended Budget. Employer contributions for FY2025-26 were determined in the CalPERS Annual Valuation Report as of June 30, 2024. As discussed with the Board on several occasions, employer contribution rates have increased significantly over the past several years and are projected to continue rising for a few more years before stabilizing. These increases are driven primarily by changes in CalPERS's demographic and investment assumptions, including a lower targeted rate of return, investment results, and amortization policy. The table below shows the projected pension rates over the next five years.
 

Other Post-Employment Benefits
The FY2025-26 Adopted Budget includes $9.32 million in OPEB charges to departments, a reduction of $3.2 million from the FY2025-26 Recommended Budget. The reason for the change is largely related to the number of unfunded positions in the Adopted Budget and the reduction of the OPEB rate. The OPEB actuarially determined contribution rate has been reduced to 5.1% following the results of the June 30, 2024, valuation report.

In May 2011, the Board approved the creation of an irrevocable trust to accumulate assets to reduce the OPEB liability. The initial policy had a funding ramp-up over 15 years; however, the County achieved that ramp-up sooner than anticipated and, in November 2019, updated the policy to fund the trust at the actuarially determined contribution level. The OPEB trust is expected to have a balance of approximately $56.3 million as of June 2026.

In addition to funding the OPEB trust, significant progress has been made in lowering the overall OPEB liability by implementing benefit caps for most employee units. As a result of these efforts, the overall OPEB liability declined by $14.2 million in the June 2024 valuation.

State/Federal Mandates
The County continues to monitor the State and Federal budgets for programmatic mandates that the County should prepare for. The State has added significant new requirements for counties in recent years. The Health and Human Services Agency continues to prepare for the shift from the Mental Health Services Act to the Behavioral Health Services Act as dictated by the passage of Proposition 1.  The department will provide a final BHSA plan to the Board on January 13, 2026, in advance of the final plan submission to DHCS by March 31, 2026.

County Public Safety departments and HHSA continue to work on alternative funding options to address the impacts of Proposition 36, as the state has not yet provided direct funding to local jurisdictions to fund this mandate.  The same departments also continue to work collaboratively on identifying solutions related to the county's Incompetent to Stand Trial population, which monetarily penalizes counties for exceeding local IST caps.

Conclusion
The Adopted Budget is balanced and meets statutory requirements.  Slightly higher than anticipated fund balance, reductions in some internal charges, and the reappropriation of Chula Vista funds originally intended as a contribution to the General Reserve in the 2024-25 fiscal year, alleviated the need for the Adopted Budget to include substantive departmental operation reductions.  However, this avoidance of additional reductions is only temporary, as the County remains in the midst of a considerable structural deficit.  As noted in the 2025-26 Recommended Budget, staff have already begun work on the secondary focus of a two-pronged approach to addressing this structural deficit. This process will likely take several years and much additional work on the part of departments and leadership. To this end, the CAO has launched an internal Department Head Workgroup specifically tasked with the exploration and identification of structural budget recommendations to the CAO.

The 2025-26 Budget continues to rely heavily on fund balance to cover ongoing costs, and while we have begun to make progress in eliminating vacant positions, the budget continues to utilize salary savings in an unsustainable fashion. As staff has noted for the past several fiscal years, this continued and increasing use of salary savings will continue to erode available fund balance in future years, making balancing the Recommended Budget increasingly difficult. As the County continues to grapple with the increasing costs of both labor and contracted services, combined with revenues growing at a slower rate, the strategies and solutions staff have consistently used to balance the budget in recent years are no longer sufficient.

While some of the following strategies have already been utilized to balance the 2025-26 Adopted Budget, staff believe it is reasonable to anticipate they will need to be utilized again to balance the 2026-27 Recommended Budget and potential budgets beyond:

Staff will be continuing its work on the two-prong approach to addressing the County’s structural deficit and will begin working on the 2026-27 Recommended Budget as soon as the Adopted Budget is approved.

We wish to thank the many dedicated members of the County staff team, across all departments, in their steadfast work to prepare this Adopted Budget.  The budget preparation process is a substantial undertaking, and even more so in tough financial times.  We also wish to thank the Board Budget Ad Hoc Committee of Chair Vixie Sandy and Vice Chair Allen for their sound leadership and guidance throughout. 

All County departments were provided the opportunity to submit additional budget adjustments and requests.