Proposed 2025-26 Budget

Overall Budget Summary

The Proposed Budget recommends a reduction in staffing to 28.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) and includes negotiated salary and benefit increases. Appropriations total $5,875,774, funded entirely by federal and State revenues.

The Budget recommends deleting 2.0 FTE vacant Child Support Specialist II to offset reduced funding and increased costs. The Budget includes a decrease in total revenues of $38,238 due to a $258,531 reduction in federal and matching State revenues. The decrease was offset by a $120,445 increase funding reallocation from San Benito County to Santa Cruz County and a $99,848 increase in cost allocation related to changes in facility.

Total expenditures decreased by $38,238 largely from a decrease of $138,506 in 2025-26 Cost Allocation Plan changes. This reduction was offset by a $106,691 increase from a change in facility charges to properly reflect the cost of facility services and utilities and a $4,070 net increase in salaries and benefits, resulting from a $230,028 increase in normal costs and a $225,958 decrease in positions deletions.

State and Federal Funding: State and federal program funding reductions over the past decade have led to annual position reductions. For 2024-25, the California Department of Child Support Services (CA-DCSS) reduced Santa Cruz County’s allocation by $258,534 and will maintain this reduction for 2025-26, requiring the deletion of 2.0 FTE vacant positions to offset negotiated increases in salaries and benefits. Continued flat or reduced budget allocations will necessitate further reduce department staff to offset increased operating costs. A smaller staff will lead to longer processing time for customer transactions.

Final Rule Legislation: Child Support Services is implementing changes under the Final Rule: Flexible, Efficient, and Modernization (FEM Final Rule) Legislation that will affect how the department processes cases involving obligated participants with limited or no income history. By January 1, 2026, Local Child Support Agencies (LCSA) will implement the Earnings Capacity method of income evaluation. This method requires Child Support Services to evaluate the participants’ ability to earn income. This update will ensure that “right size” orders are established for obligated case participants. Training and procedural updates will be implemented over the next calendar year to prepare the department to integrate the new Earnings Capacity methodology according to the FEM Final Rule legislative requirements.