Receive report on FY2022-23 year-end budget variances and adopt budget resolution to adjust final year-end appropriations for overdrawn budget units. (No general fund impact) (4/5 vote required) (Haynes)

Receive report on FY2022-23 year-end budget variances and adopt budget resolution approving year-end appropriation adjustments for overdrawn budget units.

Government Code Section 29009 requires that the County end the year with a balanced budget, whereby funding sources are equal to financing uses.  On a countywide basis, 2022-23 operating expenditures (excluding Capital Improvement Projects) ended the year $138.6 million less than budgeted amounts (a positive variance), while operating revenues ended the year $62.3 million less than budgeted amount (a negative variance).  Altogether, combined year-end operating expenditures and revenues reflect a net positive variance of $76.3 million relative to budgeted amounts, as reflected in Attachment A. The majority of the positive variance is attributed to project and program delays and vacant positions throughout many County departments. 

While the overall County budget ended fiscal year 2022-23 in balance, budgetary control is established at the budget unit level, and year-end expenditures for several budget units exceed current appropriations.  As a result, year-end appropriation adjustments are required to bring these budget units into balance.  These appropriation adjustments are reflected in Exhibit 1 to Attachment B. 

While Board action is required only for those budget units that have overdrawn current appropriations, this year-end variance analysis report examines all department variances, whether positive or negative.  Reviewing all year-end budget variances can be helpful in identifying budgetary trends or operational impacts that may need to be monitored.  It also provides the opportunity to review and consider budgetary practices that may be out of line with actual results.

The sections below provide narrative descriptions of the most significant department year-end variances.  Emphasis is on explaining departments’ net variance, or the combined result of how actual revenues and expenditures compare to budgeted amounts.

Agriculture - $1,804,733 Positive Net Variance
Agriculture ended the fiscal year with a net positive variance of $1.8 million, primarily due to a delay in the relocation to 120. W. Main Street. The relocation is funded by the department’s Building Replacement Fund and accounts for over $1.3 million of the variance, which will be used in future years when the relocation takes place. In the primary Agriculture operating fund, there are savings in Salary & Benefits of $154,346 due to several extended vacancies during the fiscal year, including an Ag & Standards Technician and Office Support Specialist vacant for 6 months and an Administrative Clerk position vacant for 9 months. Additionally, there are savings of approximately $20,000 in capital assets as the department ordered 2 trucks instead of the budgeted 3 due to supply chain issues. Revenues in the primary operating fund were approximately $300,000 over budget due to additional reimbursements from state-supported programs and receiving more revenue than expected from the sale of surplus weed spray chemicals after the termination of the weed-spraying contract with Community Services. Not all savings are realized in the General Fund due to requirements to meet the State-mandated Maintenance of Effort.

Assessor/Clerk Recorder/Elections - $1,987,806 Positive Net Variance
The Assessor/Clerk-Recorder/Elections Department ended the fiscal year with a positive net variance of approximately $2 million primarily due to savings in all divisions.  Savings in the Assessor division are attributed to a series of vacant positions and unspent grant funds related to the State Supplementation for the County Assessor Program (SSCAP) grant.  Additionally, revenues were approximately $424,000 higher than budgeted due to assessment and supplemental property tax fees coming in higher due to the increased market value of properties.

The Elections' division also had higher than budgeted revenues. This additional $385,000 in revenue was due to an unscheduled City of Davis election as well as the City of Davis voting on Measure H during the June 2022 Gubernational General Election. It is important to note that the department was able to absorb expenses associated with these additional elections without requesting additional expenditure appropriations.

The Clerk Recorder had a positive net variance of $595,000.  The division experienced savings due to vacancies in the unit that included two Administrative Services Analysts, an Executive Assistant and an Accounting Technician. Additional expenditure savings include $560,000 in the Clerk Recorder’s Upgrade Fund related to the division’s imaging project, only completing the first of five phases during the year.  This project is anticipated to be completed in fiscal year 2024-25.

Board of Supervisors - $150,551 Positive Net Variance
The Board of Supervisors ended the fiscal year with a positive net variance of $150,551 due to savings in Salaries and Benefits. One full-time position hired as extra help, in addition to several short-term vacancies contributed to the savings.

Capital Improvement Program - $12,128,461 Positive Net Variance
The Capital Improvement Program (CIP) ended the fiscal year with a net positive variance of $12.1 million.

A sizable portion of the surplus in this program is related to delays in the Knights Landing Park and Knights Landing Levee projects ($8 million).  These delays were identified earlier in the fiscal year and re-appropriation of the funds was included in the 2023-24 fiscal year budget.

Facility Capital Projects ended the year with a $1.9 million positive net variance. Timing issues related to several countywide roofing projects along with delays in the Agriculture Relocation project resulted in expenditure savings of $1.5 million.  The unit also received additional revenues of approximately $295,000 following a thorough reconciliation of prior year expenditures and revenues. This reconciliation revealed that several project specific revenues had not been transferred in prior fiscal years. Financial Services, along with General Services, was able to resolve the issues.  These adjustments also affected the Courthouse Facilities project budget.  Though the budget for that project reflects a $560,000 negative net variance, the available fund balance will be used to resolve the deficit and allow for the fund to be closed in balance.

While the Yolo Library Replacement Project ended the year with a $1.1 million positive net variance, there was a small expense deficit of $43,000 related to un-budgeted expenses for audiovisual equipment that has been carried forward into the 2023-24 fiscal year. Though the project closed the year with an accounting surplus, this is due to budgeting and timing issues. There are no savings in this project that are available for re-appropriation.

The South Davis Library Project also concluded the year with a positive net variance of $3.6 million due to receipt of an un-budgeted grant reimbursement.  These savings will be available for re-appropriation in future budget years as the project progresses.

The Leinberger project concluded the fiscal year with a negative net variance of $1.9 million due to delays in the reimbursement process. The project has an adequate fund balance to fund the variance.

It should be noted that many of the County’s capital improvement projects are multi-year in nature. As such, it is not expected that the entire project budget will be expended in a given fiscal year.

Child Support Services - $263,388 Positive Net Variance
Child Support Services ended the fiscal year with a positive net variance of approximately $263,000 primarily due to salary savings of $397,000 from unanticipated vacancies and delays in the hiring process. Additionally, the department also realized additional revenue of $261,000 from Colusa County Child Support Services closing out its financials and regionalizing with Yolo County. Offsetting the increases in salary savings and revenue is the deficit in services and supplies due to cost plan charges coming in higher than what was originally budgeted by $223,000. Additional expenses include external vendor trainings, various outreach campaigns, office furniture for the Yuba County office, building repairs due to vandalism, and sending additional staff to conferences.

Community Services - $3,104,729 Positive Net Variance
The Department of Community Services ended the fiscal year with a positive net variance of approximately $3.1 million.

Integrated Waste Management (IWM) had the largest positive variance of $4 million primarily due to landfill commercial and sanitation services revenues coming in higher than expected by $2.9 million. The $1.2 million in service and supplies savings were mostly due to professional services contracts, including architectural and building maintenance, that came in significantly lower than expected. These contracts are based on volume and purchase orders. They are historically overestimated to stay on top of the expenses. Furthermore, IWM experienced many vacancies throughout the year including the Division Director, multiple Solid Waste Attendants, Administrative Clerk, and Landfill Operations Manager, resulting in salary savings of $553,000. Offsetting the savings is the $2.7 million related to the closure-post closure liability adjustment that was not anticipated and historically has not been budgeted.

The Roads/Public Works fund ended the fiscal year with a negative net variance of $4.1 million primarily due to lower than anticipated State and Federal revenue related to timing issues on multi-year projects. Staff will work on projecting revenues closer to actuals each year instead of the entirety of the project to avoid large negative variance.  This reduction in revenue is being offset by savings of $14 million in capital assets related to these multi-year projects. Furthermore, there were salary savings of $1.2 million due to multiple vacancies, including Public Works Director, several Road Maintenance Worker positions, and Engineering Technician. Services and supplies experienced a $5 million savings due to a slowdown in Road Maintenance activities after the prior Public Works Director left the County, along with staff vacancies that affected workload. Other savings included the cost plan charges coming in lower than anticipated as well as savings in fuel/maintenance costs. The Highway 16/Madison Fund experienced lower activity during the fiscal year resulting in a reduction of $575,000 in revenue; however, the department anticipates activity will resume to near normal levels in FY2023-24 with a study on designing the channel. In addition, there was a decrease in revenue of $150,000 from the Agricultural Conservation Fund for the Public Works' easement purchases for FY2022-23; however, all purchases were deferred to FY2023-24.

Cache Creek Resource Management Plan (CCRMP) ended the fiscal year with a positive net variance of $1.5 million primarily due to the Department of Water Resources Huff’s Corner grant. This is the first year the division was under DCS and they had budgeted the remaining amount of the grant and its related expenditures in capital assets, resulting in savings of $324,000. Additionally, services and supplies experienced savings of $564,000 due to expenses related to the Huff’s Corner project that were budgeted, but not completed this fiscal year. Sand and gravel fees exceeded budget revenue by $371,000 causing a surplus in revenue.

Cache Creek Off Channel Mining Plan (OCMP) ended the fiscal year with a positive net variance of $514,000 due to higher than anticipated revenues received for sand and gravel fees of $302,000. In addition, there were savings in services and supplies of $164,000 related to professional services contracts with a large portion in the mercury monitoring contracts. Use of fund balance was budgeted at $156,000 but was not needed due to revenues exceeding expenditures at year-end.

The Building division ended the fiscal year with a negative net variance of $414,000 due to a decrease of $729,000 in revenue. Construction permit revenues were lower than anticipated, due to reductions in construction activities. Offsetting the revenue deficit is savings in services and supplies of $296,000 in which Clariti expenditures should have posted to this division; however, were moved to Tech Cost Recovery Fund in error. Fund balance is available to address the variance.

County Administrator’s Office - $353,367 Positive Net Variance
The County Administrator’s Office ended the year with a positive net variance of approximately $353,000. The Office of Emergency Services had a negative net variance of $281,000, due to considerably less revenue than anticipated ($1m). While much of this variance is a timing issue given the multi-year nature of several of the division's grants, and is thusly offset by corresponding expenditure savings, approximately $250,000 of the revenue variance cannot be received by the County.  Due to mid-year staff changes and missing trainings, staff reimbursements to grants are ineligible and not recoverable.  

Similarly, the County Administrator’s primary division concluded the year with a $37,000 negative net variance.  This variance is also largely the result of a timing issue with a sizable revenue deficit ($1.35m) being offset by an expenditure savings ($1.31m).  However, the balance of the variance is related to the department's reduction in availability of billing hours to grants and external projects given ongoing vacancies.  The Grand Jury also concluded the year with a small net negative variance ($9,500) due to their office move and remodel. 

Yolo Electric finished the fiscal year with a $118,000 positive net variance.  While the program experienced higher than anticipated expenditures related to $937,000 of un-budgeted deprecation costs, and lower than anticipated production revenue ($475,000) because of several ongoing maintenance issues, an additional $1.6 million in true-up revenue for previous years was collected. 

County Counsel - $169,101 Negative Net Variance
County Counsel ended the fiscal year with a negative net variance of approximately $169,000, primarily due to delays in billing which caused a reduction in cost reimbursements related to Public Guardian and Planning & Public Works legal service fees.  The department intends to attempt to recoup this revenue in the current fiscal year.

Additionally, contracts with the Thomas Law Group and Downey Brand were anticipated to be reimbursed by Community Services; however, they were not reimbursed by the end of the fiscal year. The department will also attempt to recoup these fees in the current year.

County Service Areas - $1,033,521 Negative Net Variance
County Service Areas (CSA) ended the fiscal year with a negative net variance of $1 million with the Wild Wings areas accounting for approximately $1 million.

In the Wild Wings Water program, staff anticipated the construction of a new water well; however, it was not completed and will be re-appropriated. This caused the related revenues and expenses to be deferred due to the contractor’s schedule and state funding. The Wild Wings Golf Course division ended the year with a negative net variance of $208,000 primarily due to the lower than anticipated revenue from the reduction of attendance at the golf course. The reduction is a result of a number of factors including the heavy rain in the winter which caused the course to be closed significantly longer than anticipated, non-operational carts that hindered play, and ongoing major maintenance of the landscape. The revenues were also affected by a change in management companies while County staff advertised for management proposals.

The North Davis Meadows area division ended the year with a negative net variance of $361,000 primarily due to the deferral of the North Davis Meadows water consolidation construction project. The project has not received funding from the State and appropriations were re-budgeted for FY2023-24. Capital assets and services and supplies costs related to the project were reduced due to the project not starting.

Countywide - $48,623,835 Positive Net Variance
The Countywide department ended the fiscal year with a positive net variance of $48.6 million, due primarily to lower than anticipated expenditures in the American Rescue Plan ($31.6m) and Measure K Cannabis Tax ($1.5m), lower than anticipated general fund transfers ($4.7m), along with an increase in development impact fee revenues ($2.8 million) and an unanticipated growth allocation and expense savings ($2.5 million) in the Community Corrections Partnership (CCP).  As they have done in previous fiscal years, the CCP voted to utilize this growth allocation increase to build their fund balance and prepare for future volatility within their funding stream.  The Accumulated Capital Outlay fund experienced lower than anticipated expenditures and higher than anticipated revenues, resulting in a $3.8 million net positive variance.

Debt Service - $34,439 Negative Net Variance
The Debt Service department ended the fiscal year with a negative net variance of $34,000 mainly due to lower than anticipated revenues received for Davis Library Debt Service. In FY2022-23, there were already funds from the previous year to cover the November 2022 payment; therefore, less transfer-in revenues were needed to pay for the debt service payments. There is sufficient fund balance available to bridge the variance.  In addition, Trane Debt Services ended the fiscal year with a negative net variance of $25,000 due to its investment earnings coming in lower than anticipated. Offsetting the deficits is the surplus in 2020 Lease Revenue Bonds, which ended the fiscal year with a positive net variance of $55,000 primarily due to an increase in rent to departments of $43,000 and revenue received from investment earnings of $12,000.

District Attorney - $2,181,765 Positive Net Variance
The District Attorney’s Office ended the fiscal year with a positive net variance of $2.2 million due mainly to numerous vacancies and grant work that did not materialize as budgeted.  Criminal Prosecution ended the fiscal year with a positive variance of approximately $660,000.  Though the division experienced large expense savings due to vacant positions and lower than anticipated Information Technology contracting costs ($900,000), revenues in Real Estate Fraud was lower than anticipated ($200,000) due to the cooling housing market. Additionally, several of the division's grants reimburse expenditures related to Salary and Benefits. Given the ongoing vacancies experienced in the division, many of those expenses were not incurred, and thus the department was unable to draw down grant reimbursement as budgeted.  The Special Investigation unit received $419,000 in unanticipated state-mandated revenues related to Child Abduction for fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22. These surpluses offset multiple revenue deficits in the Restorative Justice and Victim Assistance units, leaving the Public Safety Fund units with an overall $1.2 million positive net variance. All District Attorney special revenue funds ended the year with positive net variances.

Financial Services - $958,968 Positive Net Variance
The Department of Financial Services ended the fiscal year with a positive net variance of approximately $959,000 primarily due to salary savings from various vacancies and delays in hiring throughout the year, including Chief Budget Official, Senior Financial Services Analyst, Property Tax Supervisor, and Procurement Manager. Additionally, there were savings in professional services due to internal audit’s reduced need for on-call audit services. The system upgrades for Master Fee and Sherpa Budget Systems were also deferred to future years, resulting in additional savings. Property tax administration fees and supplemental roll administration fees received were higher than expected, causing an increase to revenues. Offsetting these amounts is the lower reimbursement for staff time on Cannabis from Community Services and less reimbursement for fiscal support services to other departments in the Satellite Finance program.

General Services - $1,653,920 Positive Net Variance
The General Services Department ended the fiscal year with a positive net variance of $1.65 million due to surpluses in Facilities, Parks, and within the Airport Capital Projects unit. 

The Facilities' division ended the year with a positive variance of almost $1.2 million.  Much of this variance was due to delays in the completion of capital projects due to delayed recruitments and training of new staff.  Additionally, salary and benefit savings exist in the division due to the Senior Accounting Technician position not being filled until the end of the fiscal year as well as underfilling or delays in hiring the following positions: Building Craftsmechanics, Project Manager, Fiscal Administrative Officer and the Director of General Services.  Additional expenditure savings exist in services and supplies due to invoices related to the Countywide Roofing Project not being invoiced in FY 2022-23, the Patrol Security contract being $25,000 less than budgeted and projects being moved into FY2023-24.  The entirety of these savings are not being realized due to a reduction in revenues of $2.4 million due to delays in ACO projects and revenues for the EV Charging grant with the City of Davis being over-estimated.

The Parks Division ended the fiscal year with a positive variance of $191,177.  This is mostly due to Parks and Facilities Worker and a Senior Accounting Technician position vacancies that existed throughout the year.  These savings are offset by reduced revenues as items that were budgeted for American Rescue Fund (ARP) reimbursement came in lower than originally anticipated.

The Airport also ended the year with a positive variance of $252,572.  This variance is tied to the Airport Run Up Apron project.  The expenses were lower than budgeted for the project; however the remaining funds were carried forward to FY23-24 when the project is to be completed and reimbursements received from the Federal government.
 
Health & Human Services Agency - $10,167,160 Positive Net Variance
Overall, the Health & Human Services Agency (HHSA) experienced a $10.2 million positive net variance, with only Administration and Veteran’s Services showing a small negative variance. The $800,000 negative variance in Administration is due primarily to carryover of Project Refresh and other one-time maintenance projects that were originally funded with IGT. Due to them not being completed in the fiscal year, the transfer from IGT did not occur to offset the payment. In the current year when funds are spent, IGT funds will be transferred to offset. Additionally, the department began transferring fleet-related salary & benefit costs to the Vehicle Replacement cost center in Administration earlier than expected, which increased expenditures by about $360K over budget. This will be covered by available fund balance. The department is instituting a new charge for vehicle use in future years which will completely cover the increased salary costs. In the Veteran’s Services budget unit, the board-approved compensation increases resulted in slight increases in salary & benefit costs that could not be covered with the current budget, resulting in a negative variance of about $5,000.

The largest positive variance within an HHSA unit is found in Behavioral Health, which experienced a $4.3 million positive variance. While this is due to several factors, the most significant is the delay of the implementation of the Crisis Now program which utilized Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) funding. That funding will be saved for future years and utilized in the department’s FY 23-26 MHSA Program & Expenditure Plan. Additional positive variance in MHSA units occurred due to higher interest apportioned revenues than anticipated and less expenditures transferred in from other units. The main operating fund for Behavioral Health experienced a $250,000 positive variance. Overall expenditures were $5 million under budget due primarily to about $3.8 million in vacancy savings, which also resulted in less offsetting revenue for staff time from grants.

Social Services also experienced a significant positive variance, with a total positive net variance of $3.3 million. This is largely a result of receiving additional payments in realignment accounts than originally anticipated. Most significant were an additional $2 million in the Social Services account due to larger caseload growth than expected, and $2.6 million in Child Poverty & Family Support. The Child Poverty & Family Support account is purposefully under budgeted as revenue is used in lieu of other social service state reimbursements not received in other units, so it accounts for some of the decrease in other revenues in Social Services. The main operating funds for Social Services experienced a net negative variance of about $60,000. This was due primarily to decreases in reimbursement rates at which the state and federal government support social service programs. Additional realignment revenues were utilized to cover most of this deficit. Additionally, there were significant vacancy savings due to a 15% vacancy rate by year-end and savings in some contracted services, resulting in about $4.3 million decrease in expenditures compared to budget.

Public Health also experienced a net positive variance, ending with approximately $1.7 million in revenues over expenditures. This was primarily due to not utilizing realignment funding as projected, resulting in a $1.4 million positive net variance in the Health 1991 Realignment account. Realignment funds were not utilized due to the main operating fund of Public Health expending $4.1 million less than budgeted. This was caused by $1.5 million in vacancy savings as well as $1.7 million in operational savings, due to COVID projects winding down mid-year.

The IGT positive variance of $1.4 million is due to receiving more funding from the Healthy Partnership than anticipated and a delay in the first phases of Project Refresh which will utilize IGT funds.

Human Resources - $657,566 Positive Net Variance
Human Resources ended the fiscal year with a positive net variance of approximately $657,566.  The main Human Resources operating budget had a deficit of $236,0000 due to invoices related to Dental Insurance premiums being paid out of the main operating budget opposed to the Dental Internal Service Fund (ISF).  
 
The Risk Management Division ended the year with a positive variance of $87,448.  This is mostly due to savings related to the Risk Manager position ($74,590) in addition to Medical/drug screenings and fingerprinting charges being higher than originally budgeted ($26,947).  Additionally, unemployment premiums came in lower than budgeted in the Unemployment account causing a positive variance of $148,000.
 
The Dental ISF has a positive variance of $683,791.  This is due to an accounting error where dental premiums were paid out of the Human Resources operating budget as opposed to the ISF and premiums being lower than originally budgeted.  The department has been notified of the error and a corrected journal entry will be made to correct the expenses. 

Innovation & Technology Services - $478,894 Negative Net Variance
Innovation & Technology Services (ITS) ended the fiscal year with an overall negative net variance of $478,894 due to variances in the ITS and Telecom divisions.  

The IT main operating unit finished the year with a negative net variance of approximately $199,000.  Expenses in the unit came in almost $1.3 million under budget.  This is primarily due to vacancies throughout the year, budgeting for the Local Agency Technical Assistance Grant that has not been received, and over budgeting the department’s salary and admin allocation.  Additionally, several professional services contracts were expended at a lower level than originally budgeted. These include services such as Dell KACE Quest Support and Citrix Support. Savings were also realized due to costs not being expensed out or items not being utilized in FY 2022/23 (Rubrik Support and Zoom licenses).   Offsetting these saving were lower than anticipated revenues of $1.5 million due to Local Agency Technical Assistance Grant from the Public Utilities Commission ($500,000) not being collected and the end of year true up being less than budgeted ($444,905).

The Telecom division had a negative variance of approximately $339,000.  This variance is primarily due to lower-than-expected revenues related to emergency cable repair and the relocation of communications infrastructure for the Sacramento Weir Widening Project not being received in FY22/23.  Astound, who conducted the relocation, has stated that they will not be charging out for this project resulting in no expenses and revenues related to this project. Additionally, revenues in charges for services were approximately $520,000 lower than budgeted for two reasons. The first includes less revenue received for work order requests for services provided by the Telecom division and $258,000 due to a Telecom rebate to departments that was required following an audit of the Telecom division finances. The rebate was intended to reduce the amount of fund balance held by the Telecom division. As such, the unit will be balanced through the use of fund balance.  Lastly, expenses in the unit also came in lower than projected primarily due to an Administrative Analyst position being budgeted under Telecom that should have been under IT, departmental charges being less than budgeted and IT admin allocation coming in under budget. There is an adequate available fund balance to address the variance.

Library - $1,346,477 Positive Net Variance
The Library ended the fiscal year with a positive net variance of approximately $1.3 million due largely to increases in Intergovernmental revenues, salary savings and savings in services and supplies.

Library Operations experienced $152,000 in salary savings due to vacancies in Library Regional Manager, Adult Services Librarian and Youth Services Librarian positions. Furthermore, Library had planned to hire a new consultant to aid in finding a new integrated library system; however, they were informed the existing vendor will still be in operation, saving them the need for professional consulting services. County cost plan charges, minor equipment for the new bookmobile, and computer replacements came in lower than expected or have been deferred to the next fiscal year, further adding to the departmental savings. The department’s miscellaneous revenue is showing a surplus of $355,000 due to higher than anticipated residual redevelopment agency (RDA) revenue received along with an increase in Friends of the Library donations for special projects such as Archives for digitization projects and the makerspace project at the Davis Library.

Measure A is primarily used to pay debt service costs and support costs for the Davis Branch Library operations. The division ends with a positive net variance of $357,000 as a result of higher revenues received in Library operations as discussed in the above paragraph. The amount allocated to Davis Library was $833,000 less than budgeted due to the increase in revenues along with the savings in the cost of system-wide expenses allocation such as administrative costs and technical services (library collection and catalog).

Probation - $2,039,352 Positive Net Variance
Probation ended the year with a positive net variance of $2 million, mainly in Probation’s Adult Probation Services and the department’s various special revenue funds.

Adult Probation Services, which includes Court Funded Pre Trial-Services, had cost savings throughout the year due to ongoing vacancies in the Court Funded Pre-Trial Unit and in Adult services.  Additional cost savings exist due to the termination of Community Services Infrastructure grant which resulted in expenditure savings of approximately $950,000.  The Community Services Infrastructure Grant also contributed to less than budgeted revenues as the division budgeted reimbursement revenues related to the grant.  Additionally, Court Pre-Trial revenues were actually $347,000 less than budgeted as were Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS) revenues, which ended the year $45,000 less than originally budgeted.

The Juvenile Detention Division ended the year with a positive net variance of $214,351.  Vacancies at the Juvenile Detention Facility (JDF), Work Program, and Transportation resulted in approximately in $580,000 in salary and benefit savings due to ongoing vacancies and ongoing conversations regarding the future of the JDF.  These expenditure savings are offset by lower than budgeted revenues specifically due to a lower net county cost than budgeted, winter storms affecting the Work program, the school nutrition program reimbursements being lower due to low populations at the JDF and a reduction in transfers in from Youth Offender Block Grant and Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA).

The Community Corrections Partnership Unit ended the year with a negative net variance of approximately $214,000.  This variance is due to lower than budgeted transfer of CCP revenues ($447,818) and overages in AB109 due to higher treatment costs to clients ($131,060).  These expenses are partially offset by ongoing vacancies in the unit resulting in salary and benefit savings of $371,000.

Probation special revenue funds (Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act and Youthful Offender Block Grant) all ended the year with positive net variances.  These funds are intended to offset appropriate expenses in other Probation divisions. Due to the savings in those programs, less was transferred to offset expenses.

Public Defender - $676,878 Positive Net Variance
Public Defender ended the year with a positive net variance of $676,878 due mostly to savings in Services and Supplies of $564,000.  These lower than budgeted expenses can be attributed to the Pilot Defense Grant subcontracts that were budgeted in Professional Services such as a contract with the Immigration Legal Resource Center (ILRC) that were not expended in addition to savings with the 1170(d) Re-sentencing grant that also did not incur expenses.  Additional savings include savings in training, equipment maintenance and communication charges.   
 
The expenditure savings are partially offset by expenses in salaries and benefits exceeding the budgeted amount by approximately $130,000.  This is due to an employee originally being budgeted in the Community Corrections Partnership (CCP) and being transferred back to the main Public Defender unit ($68,865).  The remaining variance can be attributed to over budgeting the departments' salary allocation for the Chief Mitigation Specialist, Social Work Practitioner, and partial coverage for Deputy Public Defender position by approximately $55,000.  These savings will result in an increase to the unit’s fund balance.

Sheriff - $2,042,485 Positive Net Variance
The Sheriff’s Office ended the year with a positive net variance of approximately $2 million with the Public Safety funds ending the fiscal year with a positive net variance of $193,000, due to lower than anticipated expenditures offsetting reduced revenues. Many of these reduced revenues are related to lower than anticipated transfer of general fund, and reimbursements from the Cannabis Task Force and Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation in the Patrol Division. All but the Coroner’s Division ended the fiscal year with expense savings.  The small negative net variance in the Coroner’s Division was identified as likely to occur earlier in the fiscal year and is the result of rising costs for pathology services. The majority of the department's expenditure savings are related to a series of vacant positions in various divisions, including Detention and Patrol.

The majority of special revenue funds ended the year with positive net variances, due largely to receipt of un-budgeted revenues and reduced expenditures. Approximately $710,000 of the variance is from the Small and Rural fund that has funded the Records Management/Jail Management (RMS/JMS) replacement project. The project continues to experience delays but has been budgeted in the 2023-24 fiscal year.  Despite exceeding its expenditure budget, Court Security ended the year with a positive net variance of $333,000 due to higher than anticipated state revenues.

The Inmate Welfare fund ended the year with a negative net variance of approximately $11,500 due to lower than anticipated revenues. 

The Department of Financial Services collaborated with other county departments to review and analyze variance explanations provided by departments for budget units that had a significant year-end appropriation variance.