The Stanislaus County Chief Executive Officer released a recommended budget for 2019-20 that sees a 2.4 percent increase in spending.
The Recommended Proposed Budget totals $1.38 billion, an increase of $32 million, or 2.4 percent above the base budget identified in the 2019-20 Spending Plan. The General Fund totals $361.8 million, representing an increase of $5.2 million or 1.5 percent over the total from the Final Budget of the previous year. Discretionary Revenue assumes 4 percent growth in property tax revenue, and 2 percent growth in sales tax revenue.
The General Fund is balanced with the use of $8.7 million in fund balance for a total Net County Cost of $239.9 million.
This is year two of a two-year budget process — something that is still new to the County.
“We will continue to move forward with purpose, building upon the strong foundational plan we have laid, and make time to reflect on what works well, identifying areas that could use a little fine-tuning,” said County CEO Jody Hayes.
Nearly $6.8 million in increases to General Fund departments will provide service level increases and staffing adjustments.
Notable changes in the Proposed Budget include additional staffing to support cannabis enforcement activities in the Sheriff’s Department, manage human resources functions in Probation, provide supervision and address workload needs in the District Attorney’s Office and address the impact of recent statutory and decisional law in the Public Defender’s Office. Additionally, Proposition 172 funding, also known as Public Safety Sales Tax revenue, is being provided for the first time to the Chief Executive Office – Office of Emergency Services/Fire Warden as pass-through funding to benefit local fire districts; $100,000 in one-time funding will be allocated to volunteer fire districts for equipment and training and an ongoing allocation representing 2 percent of annual Proposition 172 growth will be provided to local fire agencies, with a base year allocation of $44,000.
The Proposed Budget also includes staffing support for substance use disorder services and management needs within Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, quality improvement and oversight for Child Welfare and CalFresh programs at CSA, and administrative support in Aging and Veterans Services and the HSA. In addition to the realignment of appropriations with program needs in BHRS and CSA, the newly established Homeless Emergency Aid Program at CSA will utilize allocated funding to provide immediate emergency assistance to people experiencing homelessness along with those at risk of becoming homeless.
The entire proposed budget is available for preview on the County’s website at www.stancounty.com/budget/.
A public hearing before the Board of Supervisors for the consideration and adoption of the 2019-20 Recommended Proposed Budget for Budget Period 2018-19/2019-20 – Year 2 has been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. June 18. The meeting will take place in the basement Board Chambers located at 1010 10th St. in Modesto.
