Proposed 2025-26 Budget

Overall Budget Summary

The Proposed Budget recommends status quo staffing of 23.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) and includes negotiated salary and benefit increases. Appropriations total $4,196,837, funded by revenues of $2,072,293 and a General Fund contribution of $2,124,544.

The Budget includes an increase in total revenues of $ 509,781 due to a $314,845 increase from cost recovery and $174,936 increase in charges to support the County’s self-insured Risk Management program. Total expenditures increased by $677,882 largely from a $578,404 increase from costs not recovered through the County’s Cost Allocation Plan and $58,427 from a change in facility charges to properly reflect the costs of facilities services and utilities.

Federal Policy Response Team: County Counsel is a member of the County Executive Office’s Federal Policy Response Team and is responsible for legal review and analysis. Staff is monitoring litigation responding to Presidential Executive Orders and federal agency directives that are eliminating funding and changing programs to the detriment of the vital safety net and other services provided to county residents.

Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Act: The County Counsel’s Office participated in CARE Act planning, implementation and launch in Santa Cruz County on December 1, 2024. The CARE Act created a new pathway to deliver mental health and substance use disorder services by moving care and support upstream and creating a new program and court proceedings. This added to the workload of County Counsel, which represents Behavioral Health during these proceedings. The County is monitoring potential changes to the CARE Act that could further impact County services and staffing.

Senate Bill (SB) 43 Conservatorships: SB 43 expands the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act criteria for the involuntary commitment of a person who is a danger to themselves or others or who is gravely disabled by a mental health disorder and is unable to provide for their basic personal needs for food, clothing, or shelter or has been found mentally incompetent. The bill expands the definition of “grave disability” to a person with a substance use disorder who is unable to provide for their personal safety or medical care. Once implemented on January 1, 2026, this expansion will result in a larger workload for County Counsel.

Pajaro Levee Litigation: The County Counsel’s Office is allocating more resources, including staff time, to work on Pajaro Levee lawsuits resulting from the 2023 floods. This litigation is expected to continue for several years.