Proposed 2025-26 Budget

Overall Budget Summary

The Proposed Budget recommends status quo staffing of 31.0 full-time equivalent positions, including negotiated salary and benefit increases. Appropriations total $6,224,366, funded by revenues of $2,848,948 and a General Fund contribution of $3,375,418.

The Budget includes a decrease in total revenues of $239,879 largely due to a decrease of $186,760 in recorder fees. Total expenditures decreased by $125,191 from a decrease of $335,607 in professional services, resulting from completion of implementing new recorder system and a project to identify and redact newly protected information mandated by Assembly Bill (AB) 1466. This reduction was offset by an increase of $196,416 in negotiated salary and benefit increases and an increase of $45,137 from a change in facility charges to properly reflect the costs of facility services and utilities.

Historical Records at Risk: The Assessor’s Office maintains over 100,000 real property files, many of which exist only in paper format. While staff have imported some data into digital systems, most commercial and complex property records remain exclusively on paper. These records are essential for determining assessed property values. Homeowners, insurance companies, title companies, county departments, and government agencies regularly request information from these files. For example, during CZU rebuilds, the Planning Department relies on copies of Assessor records as a key first step in the permitting process.

The Assessor’s Office has prioritized digitizing these records for several years, aligning with recommendations from the Accountability Review Audit. In 2024, the estimated hard cost for the project was $375,700. Digitization will protect valuable historical records from loss, fire, flood, and deterioration. It will also improve accessibility, boost operational efficiency, and support the potential creation of a South County satellite office.

Proposition 19: Proposition 19 continues to pose a significant challenge for the Assessor’s Office, requiring substantial time and resources to implement. The law’s complexity, combined with a high volume of Proposition 19-related cases, has increased the department’s workload and slowed processing times. Additional staff have helped manage the volume, and we are making steady progress in reducing the backlog. However, even after we catch up, ongoing transfers and legal complexities will continue to require significant attention and resources.

New Construction: Growing housing demand and new legislation, such as Senate Bill (SB) 9, are expected to significantly increase the Assessor’s Office workload. SB 9 allows homeowners to divide residential lots, requiring the GIS section to map new divisions, update parcel boundaries, and create additional assessor parcel numbers. At the same time, the Appraiser section must assess and assign values to newly constructed units. As the housing stock expands, staff will need to verify ownership, update property data, and ensure accurate mapping and assessment, further increasing demands on the department.

Property Tax Software Modernization: The County implemented its current property tax software (Aumentum) in 2012 as the first of its kind in California. Since then, the system has become outdated, and the software provider has shifted development to a new platform. As a result, the County can no longer access key updates, features, or technical support, creating challenges in efficiency, accuracy, and compliance.

California’s complex property tax laws make system development difficult and expensive, with few vendors able to meet the County’s specialized needs. While a new system is at least three years away, the Assessor, Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector, and the Information Services Department meet quarterly to review business needs, assess system requirements, evaluate resources, and plan for future upgrades or replacement. Due to the project’s scope, staff anticipate costs in the millions.

Recording Revenue: The Recorder’s Offices operate on a fee-for-service model, where recording fees are intended to fully cover operational costs. However, since 2022–23, Santa Cruz County has drawn on General Fund support due in part to an outdated fee structure. The County has not updated recording fees since 2010, and they no longer reflect rising costs and wages, resulting in a growing budget shortfall. To address this, the County Recorders’ Association of California is leading a legislative effort to stabilize recording fees and preserve recorder services across the state. Without this reform, counties will struggle to maintain service levels, retain trained staff, and ensure timely recordings.

Electronic Recording: Due to staff reductions in the Recorder’s Office, it is critical that government entities, including cities and County departments like the Tax Collector and Planning, adopt electronic recording to enable faster, more efficient document processing. Government entities already have the tools to record electronically, which streamlines workflows and reduces processing time.