Shasta County supervisors are being asked to approve a broad year-end budget cleanup that would add $10,647,725 to the county’s Reserves for Contingency budget while shifting money across 36 departmental and district accounts.
In the staff report, the County Administrative Office said the amendments are intended to better align projected budgets with actual revenues and spending patterns. The package includes reductions in several departments and special districts, along with increased appropriations in some areas where actual costs or revenues ran ahead of budget.
The largest single change is in the Roads Budget, where appropriations would fall by $18,989,916 and revenue by $19,120,476, with the difference offset by restricted fund balance. The General Revenues and Transfers budget would drop by $739,145 in appropriations but increase revenue by $11,171,780, reflecting higher taxes, franchise fees and interest already realized, plus a reduced transfer to Roads and a transfer to Fall River Mills Airport, according to the report.
The Public Defender Budget would also be trimmed, with appropriations reduced by $1.2 million and revenue increased by $80,000. The staff report says the office continues to have extensive vacancies, which have produced salary savings, and that Care Court funding was extended and will be realized this year.
Other reductions cited in the report include Information Technology, Solid Waste, Fleet Management, Facilities Management and Tobacco Settlement. The report also says several programs would see increases, including Social Services Administration, Alcohol & Drug Programs, Trial Courts, District Attorney and Building Inspection.
The budget amendment package is listed as a 4/5-vote item, and the report says the Auditor-Controller’s Office reviewed it. The memo attached to the item says the year-end changes would reduce general-fund use overall, even as the contingency reserve line grows to absorb net county cost differences across the affected budgets.
