County budget deficit looms

County staff is estimating a budget deficit of $18 million for the next fiscal year, though not all the information was available at the second of three budget workshops before budget hearings in June.

Social Services, which served about 40,000 county residents last year, had not submitted its request for funds. The CEO’s office expects it to be about $3 million, though salaries and benefits are down by about a million. Currently, the combined amount of money all the departments are asking for from the General Fund is $94 million.

While the estimated $18 million deficit does include the expectation of the roughly $3 million from Social Services, it does not include the Capital Improvement Plan, and it assumes no additional General Fund appropriations.

The CEO’s office has recommendations to offset between $2.5 and $4.1 million, including using some of the county retirement reserve and adjusting the CalFire dispatch budget.

Supervisor Ted Williams asked if the board could see the actual amounts that departments have spent over the last year. CEO Darcie Antle told him she could provide that information at the budget workshop on May 7, but Izen Locatelli, the chief probation officer, warned of the pitfalls of building a budget based on actuals…