RIVERSIDE (CNS) - Riverside County supervisors today refrained from
approving a list of recommended appropriations under the proposed 2019-20
budget, electing instead to debate lingering concerns during next week's
meeting.
``I'm prepared to make changes in order to preserve more frontline
services that residents depend on, particularly in the unincorporated areas,''
Board of Supervisors Chairman Kevin Jeffries said. ``But it's premature to make
any changes today, not having all the numbers.''
The board initiated hearings Monday evening on general fund
allocations for the next fiscal year, and additional testimony was received
this afternoon. Chief Financial Officer Don Kent requested that the board move
forward with tentatively approving the fiscal blueprint in place, then making
adjustments before formal adoption of the budget on June 25.
``We must maintain fiscal discipline,'' Kent said. ``It's vital to
embrace cost containment (and) improvements in efficiency and productivity.''
Supervisors Manuel Perez and Chuck Washington were unwilling to make
any approvals without spending more time weighing budgetary impacts, mostly to
public safety agencies.
Transportation & Land Management Agency Director Juan Perez gave a
stark presentation on the years-long compression of the Department of Code
Enforcement, which is under the TLMA umbrella. Code has seen its general fund
support chopped 45 percent since 2016-17, and over the last decade, more than
100 field officers have been downsized, Perez said.
``This has led to serious consequences,'' he said. ``We will have to
take a more measured pace. We will do the best job we can with the resources
that we have.''
Supervisor Perez insisted that the board take time to ``dig a little
deeper'' to identify possible alternative solutions than to continue shaving
code's funding, despite the county's financial constraints.
The total appropriations for the current fiscal year topped out at
$5.72 billion, according to the Executive Office. The proposed 2019-20 total --
$6.1 billion -- would exceed that by 6.6 percent.
Salaries and benefits remain the county's largest expenditure, with
about 40 percent of revenue dedicated to payroll.
Public safety remains the largest consumer of general fund
appropriations, at 44 percent, according to the 700-page budget report.
The county is projecting that property tax receipts and motor vehicle
license fee revenue will both increase about 6 percent in 2019-20. The two
combined comprise the greatest share of general fund discretionary money, which
is expected to total just over $1 billion in the upcoming fiscal year.
Figures showed that discretionary revenue should continue to climb
over the next four years, though the reserve pool will decline as draw-downs
are used to cover costs. Reserves are presently holding at $212 million, but
that amount could drop by $50 million during 2022-23, according to the report.
As in most years, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department sought an
increase in general fund appropriations, which the recommended budget estimated
to be $300.6 million, or roughly $20 million more than the current year's
level.
The sheriff's total outlays would be $742 million, compared to $722
million in the current fiscal year, if the proposed budget is approved by the
board. That amount combines fee collections, Proposition 172 public safety
sales tax revenue, grants, law enforcement contract payments and other sources,
in addition to the general fund.
The department's No. 1 near-term challenge will be staffing and
maximizing use of the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio, which will be
operational by year's end, according to the report.
The District Attorney's Office is slated to receive a $5 million boost
in general fund allocations, which would bring the agency's total budget in
2019-20 to $129.2 million.
Executive Office staff said D.A. Mike Hestrin continues to struggle
with a rollover deficit projected at $9.7 million, even as he has not filled
some vacant positions to manage costs.
According to the EO, the agency is under a major ``strain'' to meet
``an astonishing 136'' state mandates that have been implemented over the last
three years, including changes in state law that permit some drug offenders to
have their convictions reduced, as well as some gun crimes to be retroactively
modified for the benefit of convicts.
Public Defender Steve Harmon, whose agency is entirely dependent on
general fund money, is also in line for an appropriations increase, totaling
$1.5 million, as deputy public defenders also contend with higher caseloads and
demands, according to the Executive Office.
In other segments of the public safety sphere, however, appropriations
will be held at nearly the same level, or even reduced, under the
recommended budget.
The Department of Probation is seeking the same general fund infusion
in 2019-20 that it requested in the current fiscal year -- $40.7 million, while
the Fire Department's recommended allocation is about $1.5 million less than in
2018-19.
The Riverside University Health System, which serves as a hub for
multiple county units, would receive $3 million in additional funding, raising
the composite RUHS budget to $678.8 million.
RUHS has been working to resolve a projected $16 million deficit due
to ongoing losses at the 10 county-run public health clinics. Officials have
blamed the red ink mostly on inadequate federal reimbursement rates for
healthcare delivered to the indigent and uninsured, as well as rising labor and
pension costs for employees.