I. 2020-21 3rd Quarter Budget Monitoring
Year-end projections have been developed by each department based on actual revenue and expenditure data through March 31. The sections below highlight areas where significant variances from budgeted amounts are projected, or where budget adjustments or other actions are recommended. A summary of the 3rd Quarter projections for each department is provided in Attachment A. For those budget units where staff recommends a budget adjustment, it is noted in this narrative and also included in the budget resolution provided in Attachment B.
Agriculture: Agriculture is projecting to end the fiscal year with a positive net variance of approximately $1 million primarily due to the delay of the move to 120 W. Main Street. The department plans on submitting a carry-forward request at year-end when realistic estimates are known. Additionally, Agriculture is projecting a reduction of $133,000 in State revenue due to not having enough billable hours available to meet the contract maximum. The reduction in revenue is offset by reductions in Services and Supplies.
Assessor/Clerk-Recorder/Elections: Assessor/Clerk-Recorder/Elections is projecting to end the year with a positive net variance of $533,000, which is primarily due to an increase in the Clerk-Recorder division’s Charges for Service revenue. A high volume of residential home refinances is resulting in increased revenue through the first three quarters of the fiscal year. The department is expecting the revenue to taper off in the last quarter due to rising interest rates.
Child Support Services: Child Support Services is projecting to end the fiscal year with a positive net variance of approximately $262,000 primarily due to the State reallocating approximately $500,000 of unused funds from Colusa and Sutter counties. The additional revenue will offset the deficit in salary and benefit costs due to employees transitioning to Yolo County.
Community Services: The Community Services department is projecting to end the fiscal year with an overall positive net variance of $2.5 million, primarily due to contract savings within Service and Supplies in the Integrated Waste Management (IWM) division.
The Integrated Waste Management (IWM) division is projecting an overall $2.2 million positive net variance primarily due to contract savings within Service and Supplies as the operating contractor is handling less waste than expected. The $1.8 million land purchase for soil and land mitigation will not be completed in the current fiscal year due to negotiations taking longer than expected. The replacement electric truck will also not be purchased this fiscal year. The division is having a difficult time finding an electric truck that has enough ground clearance due to the large batteries. The $3.2 million of Bond Proceeds revenue to fund operations, capital projects and equipment purchases will not be transferred into operations in the current fiscal year. Instead, the division will draw down the proceeds in FY21-22 to fund projects and balance the budget. Additionally, the division will not supplement the Closure-Post Closure fund since the fund is earning enough interest to satisfy the State requirement. The division is projecting a reduction of $750,000 in Charges for Service revenue due to over estimating the volume of incoming waste during the year.
The Planning and Building division is projecting an overall $299,000 positive net variance. Code Enforcement is projecting a positive variance of $128,000 primarily due to savings in salary and benefits. One position is vacant and the other position was assigned at CROC most of the fiscal year. General Plan Recovery Cost program is projecting $180,000 contract savings within Services and Supplies.
County Service Areas: The County Service Areas (CSAs) and Assessment Districts are projecting to end the fiscal year with an overall negative net variance of $58,000, with the majority of CSAs projecting to end the year with a small positive or negative variance which can be covered by fund balance. Of the larger variances, North Davis Meadows-Water, reflects both revenues and expenditures being significantly below budget due to postponement of the water consolidation project because of ongoing litigation related to the project since the lawsuit decision was appealed in January 2020. North Davis Meadows-Water Project has a loan payment of $450,000 due before year-end. The department is requesting an adjustment to budget for this expenditure as it was not originally budgeted in FY20-21 Adopted. Additionally, El Macero-Water is projecting a negative variance of $282,000 as a higher utility bill is expected due to the drought. The department is requesting an adjustment to fund the deficit with Use of Fund Balance.
Staff recommends adopting the budget resolution in Attachment B.
County Administrator’s Office: The department is projecting to end the year within budget, with a budget adjustment to the Dental Self Insurance Internal Service Fund. Delta Dental claims paid during the fiscal year has exceeded the estimated budget. Fund balance will be used to increase appropriations for dental claims.
Staff recommends adopting the budget resolution in Attachment B.
County Counsel: County Counsel is projecting to end the fiscal year with a positive net variance of approximately $232,000 primarily due to salary savings from employee turnover. Additionally, the department has savings in Services and Supplies due to lower use of outside counsel. Indigent Defense is also expecting a positive net variance of $28,000 due to savings in reimbursement for expert fees.
Countywide: While most budget units within the Countywide budget are projected to end the year within budgeted amounts or with a positive net variance. Board Controlled Penalties and Criminal Justice Facilities are anticipating a negative variance due to a reduction in court related revenues. If revenues do not materialize, both Board Controlled Penalties and Criminal Justice Facilities have a small fund balance to cover the deficits.
Countywide general purpose revenues are projected to end the year in excess of budgeted amounts due to increases in document transfer tax revenue $473,000, penalty on delinquent taxes $344,000, sales tax $438,000, and the sale of surplus fixed assets, $208,000. These revenues are partially offset by lower than anticipated court revenues and transient occupancy tax, still affected by closures and economic slowdown due to COVID-19.
Countywide Community Corrections Partnership fund will exceed budgeted revenue due to the receipt of public safety realignment backfill from Coronavirus Relief funds.
Development Impact Fee revenues are projecting to complete the year in positive net variance. These fees are collected as a portion of a development project for the purpose of offsetting the cost of public facilities in the area of the development.
The FY20-21 Adopted Budget assumed COVID-19 Response Operations Center (CROC) operations from January to July would be funded by the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) grant from the California Department of Health Care Services, which has since been moved to HHSA. Per the Board of Supervisor’s approved budget resolution #20-120.30, approved on April 23, 2021, CROC operations are now funded by general fund savings resulting from CARES Act reimbursements of public health and safety costs. Within the CROC, savings in salary and benefits are due to lower staffing costs than originally estimated and savings in service and supplies primarily due to lower COVID-19 testing costs. Staff is recommending operational savings be rebalanced to additional CARES Act expenditure plan projects that materialized after the budget was adopted.
Staff recommends adopting the budget resolution in Attachment B.
Debt Service: Debt Service is projecting to end the fiscal year with a positive net variance of $285,000 due to anticipated savings in the Trane Energy Project and a small increase in revenues in the Davis Library Fund. The savings in the Trane Energy Project is due to a deductive change order to remove energy improvements from the project plan for the soon to be vacated Ag building.
District Attorney: District Attorney is projecting to end the year with a positive net variance of $1 million. The DA’s special revenue funds contribute $297,000 of the positive variance. The remaining $700,000 is from the Public Safety Criminal Prosecution division. This division has five vacant Attorney positions and one vacant Investigator position. Due to a conservative approach with the unknown impacts of COVID-19 on businesses and the court system, vacant positions were not heavily recruited during the fiscal year. Service and supply expenses of expert witnesses, transcription costs, traveling and training are projected to be under budget due to court closures.
With a portion of the projected surplus, the District Attorney has purchased four replacement vehicles and five handheld portable radios that were originally requested in their FY21-22 budget. The replacement vehicles have been approved by Fleet and the Board of Supervisors approved the asset purchases at the May 18, 2021 Board meeting, and the vehicle request has been removed from the District Attorney’s FY21-22 budget request.
Financial Services: The Department of Financial Services (DFS) is projecting to end the year with a positive net variance of $297,000 which is primarily related to salary savings as the department has experienced several vacancies throughout the fiscal year. One of the positions is within the Treasury division resulting in lower Treasury Pool cost reimbursement from other departments due to the vacancy. Offsetting this reduction in revenue is reimbursement from Cannabis, General Services and Probation for staff time that was not included in the FY20-21 Adopted Budget. Two Innovation and Technology Services (ITS) staff were not originally budgeted under DFS, however, the salary and benefits have been charged to the department since January. DFS will submit for Salary and Benefit reimbursement from ITS to offset these costs. Additionally, the department experienced savings in various Services and Supplies accounts, such as training and travel, due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic.
General Services: Each division within General Services is projecting to end the year with a positive net variance; Facilities $550,000, Parks $475,000 and Esparto Tuli Mem Park and Pool Center $77,600.
While the Facilities division revenue is projected to the end the year less than budgeted due to much of the county staff working from home, resulting in less maintenance work, this is offset by the reduction in service and supplies expense for the same reason. Salary savings from three vacant positions has contributed to the anticipated positive variance in Facilities.
Like the Facilities division, Parks revenue is projected to end the year less than budgeted due to campground and park closures from COVID-19 and the LNU lighting complex fires. An additional reduction in revenue is due to the timing of State and Federal grant reimbursement as the Knights Landing Boat Launch project nears completion. The negative variance in revenue is offset by salary savings due to vacant positions, reductions in services and supply expenses due to campground and park closures, and savings in Knights Landing Boat Launch and Grassland Trail project assets.
In FY20-21, Esparto Tuli Mem Park and Pool was budgeted with the anticipated need for general fund support. Due to COVID-19 keeping the pool closed or in limited use for most of the year, utility and maintenance expenses are projected to be less than budgeted, creating a projected surplus at year end.
Health and Human Services Agency: The Health & Human Services Agency (HHSA) is projecting to end the year within budgeted amounts in almost all major programs. The Behavioral Health Subaccount has the existing ability, per Welfare and Institutions Code § 17600.20, to reallocate funds between the social services, health, and mental health accounts of the local health and welfare trust fund. Now that the State of California has recognized the department as an integrated health and services agency, it has allowed more flexibility to allocate 2011 Realignment funds between the Protective Services Subaccount.
The Mental Health Services (MHSA) fund is projecting to end the year with a positive net variance of approximately $6.2 million, attributed almost entirely from savings in salary and benefit costs and associated service and supplies for MHSA programs. The MHSA 3-year plan had many projects in Community Services, Innovation and Prevention and Early Intervention to start in FY20-21 but are either still in the RFP stages or have not started.
Offsetting some of the positive variance within Mental Health Services is a $1 million deficit in Core Mental Health. The negative variance is due to staff time to Core Mental Health instead of MHSA programs, that have been delayed for various reasons. Service and supplies are over budget mostly due to higher contracts for Institute for Medical Disease (IMD) placements during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of the fiscal year, Public Health and Social Services Realignment will be utilized in eligible divisions to free up Intergovernmental Transfer (IGT) funds to be used to balance any deficit in Core Mental Health.
Public Health is projecting a positive net variance of $348,000. While Jail Medical is anticipating to end the fiscal year with a $541,000 deficit, Emergency Preparedness and Public Health Realignment are both anticipating a positive variance. While Jail Medical is expecting approximately $2.5 million in CARES Act funding and $350,000 in re-negotiated contract savings with Wellpath, $3.5 million is projected to be transferred to other divisions. The negative variance in Jail Medical is offset by increased Public Health Realignment revenue of $997,000, and an increase in federal grants of $106,000 in Emergency Preparedness.
Social Services is projecting to end the fiscal year with a positive net variance of $1.9 million. The surplus is made up of increased Social Services Realignment revenue and surplus from re-negotiated Wellpath contracts in Jail Medical. The positive variance will be used to offset the year end deficit from FY19-20.
The department is proposing budget adjustments to appropriate 2011 Realignment funds to Core Mental Health.
Staff recommends adopting the budget resolution presented in Attachment B
Human Resources: Human Resources is projecting to end the year with a positive net variance of $47,000 primarily due to savings in Services and Supplies, specifically Training and Travel. The positive variance in expenditures is partially offset by reduction in Charges for Service revenue of $15,000 as the department is not providing training and other services to departments due to COVID-19.
Innovation and Technology Services: The Innovation and Technology Services (ITS) department is projecting to end the fiscal year with a positive net variance of $266,000 primarily due to vacancy savings in the ITS division and contract savings in Services and Supplies in the Telecom division. During the fiscal year, ITS was unable to fill certain Programmer and other technical positions, so the salary savings from those vacant positions were moved to Service and Supplies to hire contractors to perform the work. Some of the position vacancies hired for specific departments will have an offsetting reduction of revenue reimbursement. Remaining vacancies, other expenditure savings, and other expenditure overages related to ERP systems or Connectivity will be part of a true up calculation at the end of the fiscal year with significant adjustments charged or credited to the departments.
Library: The Library is projecting to end the fiscal year with a positive net variance of approximately $687,000, primarily due to savings from vacant positions at the Mary L. Stephens Davis Library. The branches have been closed to the public due to COVID-19 for the majority of the year resulting in a significant reduction in Extra Help expenses. Additionally, the department expects an increase in retroactive redevelopment agency (RDA) payments. In the past, it was assumed counties would not receive any revenue in excess of the property tax revenue had the RDA’s not existed. Based on a recent court case, there is now no cap and all taxing agencies get a portion of the residual revenue. The Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund (RPTTF) will be changing how the RDA revenue is allocated in future years as well as retroactively correcting three previous fiscal years. This issue was discussed with the Board of Supervisors at the June 8, 2021 Board meeting.
The Gibson House Museum is projecting a positive variance due to additional receiving additional revenue including a donation. The department is requesting to increase Services and Supplies appropriations to utilize the donation.
The Yolo Library Capital Improvement Project is projecting to end the year with a positive net variance of $808,000 due to delays in the bidding process. The construction contracts were put out to bid for a second time due to the apprenticeship requirement not being met so it is unlikely the project will have significant costs before the end of the fiscal year. There are no variances projected for the overall project and the surplus in the current fiscal year has been re-budgeted in the FY21-22 Recommended Budget.
Staff recommends adopting the budget resolution presented in Attachment B
Probation: Probation is projecting to end the year with a positive net variance of approximately $1.77 million, primarily due to $1.26 million in reduced adult and juvenile staffing and programming expenses attributed to unanticipated vacancies and continued COVID-19 social distancing restrictions. Further savings are anticipated in the Community Corrections Partnership fund due to several vacancies in the unit throughout the fiscal year, and anticipated savings in program related expenses due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Probation’s Community Corrections Partnership (CCP) Planning fund and Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA) are projecting deficits at the end of the fiscal year; however, both have available fund balance that can be used to balance the unit should it still be required. The department is not requesting an adjustment for these deficits.
The department is requesting one adjustment in its Public Safety Administration unit. The department has opted to begin participating in the County’s PC Replacement fund and is requesting transfer of appropriation within the budget to facilitate this transfer to the Information Technology Services Department. No additional funding is being requested to complete this action.
Staff recommends adopting the budget resolution presented in Attachment B.
Public Defender: The Public Defender is projecting to end the year with a slight positive net variance of $53,000. The Public Defender had three unbudgeted payouts for retirements in total of $113,000. The vacated positions have been underfilled or are currently vacant for salary savings to offset the unbudgeted payouts.
Sheriff: The Sheriff’s Office is projecting a positive net variance of $3.8 million. Approximately $2.0 million of the variance is due to the Sheriff’s special revenue funds. Public Safety Fund units, which are supported by the General Fund, are projected to end the year with a $1.8 million positive variance.
In the Sheriff’s Patrol division, $131,000 in budgeted revenue from the Almond Festival, County Fair and other events was not received due to cancellations because of COVID-19 restrictions. However, this loss of revenue was offset by a number of vacant Deputy positions throughout the fiscal year.
The Detention division is projected to end the fiscal year with a positive net variance due to reimbursements from the State Prison Reimbursement fund and CARES Act reimbursement. State inmates are being housed in the county jail instead of going to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation prison system resulting in State Prison reimbursements. These two main revenue sources, along with savings from vacant positions, have partially offset an increase in salaries and benefits attributable to wage increases in the Correctional Officers Association MOU and to overtime costs for meeting minimum staffing requirements due to vacancies.
The Small and Rural fund is showing a positive net variance of $1.0 million due to the delay in implementing the RMS/JMS software system. The funds have been re-budgeted in FY21-22 for the final year of implementation.
In FY20-21, Court Security was balanced using $399,000 in salary savings and $381,000 in general fund. Due to two vacant Deputy Sheriffs and a vacant Sergeant position, Court Security is projected to end the fiscal year in a positive net variance.
Contingency Appropriations: The table below reflects the balance of all contingency appropriations as of May 18, 2021.
| Contingency Designation |
Original Allocation |
Amount Remaining as of 5/18/21 |
| General Fund |
$ 2,500,000 |
$ 1,723,477 |
| Public Safety |
$1,300,000 |
$1,300,000 |
| Health & Human Services |
$ 500,000 |
$ 500,000 |
| IT Innovation |
$ 150,000 |
$ 150,000 |
| COVID |
$857,683 |
$ 533,581 |
| Safety and Security |
$100,000 |
$ 40,800 |
| Total |
$ 5,407,683 |
$ 4,247,858 |
It is recommended that all contingency balances remain unallocated at this time to provide a safeguard against unanticipated events that may occur throughout the remainder of the fiscal year. Any amounts that remain unspent at year end will carry forward to be appropriated as part of the general fund fund balance in the FY21-22 Adopted Budget.
II. FY21-22 Recommended Budget
This County Administrator’s FY21-22 Recommended Budget staff report provides additional information to assist the Board of Supervisors in considering the budget. The Recommended Budget (Attachment C) includes a department-by-department review of anticipated revenue and expenditures, as well as information regarding the funded programs. The purpose of the June 15 Budget Hearing is for the County Administrator to present an overview of the Recommended Budget, and for the Board to make any adjustments deemed appropriate before approving it as the initial spending plan for FY21-22 .
State law requires the Board of Supervisors adopt a resolution setting the County’s budget each year, and prescribes the format required for such action. The FY21-22 Recommended Budget resolution (Attachment D) adopts and implements the initial budget for the upcoming fiscal year, as considered and amended by the Board of Supervisors during the budget hearings. This budget will provide appropriation authority until the FY21-22 Adopted Budget is approved in September. The Board may modify this budget at any time between now and the Adopted Budget hearing by a 3/5 vote. Following approval of the Adopted Budget, a 4/5 vote is required for most budget modifications.
Before approving the FY21-22 Recommended Budget, the Board may make revisions to the recommended appropriations, revenues and staffing allocations. Exhibit 1 to the Budget Resolution summarizes appropriations and revenues by fund, department, and budget unit at the account group level. Within Exhibit 1 the FY21-22 Capital Improvement Program budget is summarized separately from the operating budget. Inter-fund transfers are subtracted from the total consolidated County budget to eliminate double counting.
Approval of the Recommended Budget allows the County to begin the fiscal year with a balanced financial plan in place. As discussed further below, the Recommended Budget does not include a number of departmental budget proposals, which staff recommends be considered at the Adopted Budget in September. For the Board’s consideration, the sections below highlight the changes, challenges and risks presented in the FY21-22 Recommended Budget.
Budget Development
The Department of Financial Services (DFS) and County Administrator first updated the Board at the January 26, 2021 Board meeting, where the Board received a preliminary assessment of the FY21-22 Budget and adopted the Budget Principles. The Board conducted budget workshops on March 8 and March 16, 2021.
The Department of Financial Services shared at the Budget workshop that the economy continues to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic more strongly than originally expected; however the County has cost pressures that are greater than the gains in revenues. These cost pressures come from a variety of sources. Thus, the challenge for the budget process in the current year and likely future years, as shown in the five-year forecast, is to contain costs within available revenue growth while making progress on Strategic Plan goals and other key initiatives.
As part of the budget development process, departments submitted their budget requests through the Sherpa budget system in February. Initial base budget requests exceeded revenue projections by approximately $8.5 million. Submitted general fund augmentations totaled $9.2 million, for a total initial gap of almost $18 million. The Department of Financial Services and the County Administrator’s Office held budget review meetings with individual departments in March and April, and discussed options to find potential budget savings to close the budgetary gap. Strategies included implementing a salary savings factor for those departments with a historical trend of vacancies, base expenditure reductions in services and supplies, use of non-general fund resources where available and the deferral of a majority of general fund augmentation requests for consideration during the Adopted Budget hearing. In past years, when the County used salary savings as a budget balancing strategy it was done on a limited based, and the resulting unbudgeted savings from vacant positions would provide a revenue source for one-time expenditures and balancing subsequent budgets. As the County implements wider use and higher salary savings factors in the budgeting process, less unrestricted fund balance will likely be available in future years to help bridge budgetary gaps.
Budget Overview
The FY21-22 Recommended Budget is balanced, meets State appropriation requirements and aligns with the Board of Supervisors’ adopted financial policies. The County’s net operating budget for FY21-22 is $572.9 million, with a capital improvement budget of $46.6 million. The budget is comprised of multiple departments that are funded by numerous funds, including the General Fund, Public Safety Fund, Enterprise funds, and other Special Revenue funds. The table below provides a summary of the FY21-22 Recommended Budget.
| |
2019-20
Actual |
2020-21
Adopted |
2021-22
Recommended |
| Net Operating Budget |
$ 455,730,034 |
$ 539,707,726 |
$ 526,245,540 |
| Capital Improvement Budget |
$ 21,096,685 |
$ 49,437,834 |
$ 46,617,196 |
| Total County Budget |
$ 476,826,719 |
$ 589,145,560 |
$ 572,862,736 |
| |
|
|
|
| Fund Highlights |
|
|
|
| General Fund Departments |
$ 58,703,515 |
$ 72,938,765 |
$ 74,527,760 |
| Behavioral Health Services |
$ 46,362,580 |
$ 50,934,388 |
$ 47,983,065 |
| Road/Transportation Fund |
$ 14,694,728 |
$ 32,304,832 |
$ 31,393,113 |
| Public Safety Departments |
$ 100,184,129 |
$ 110,822,388 |
$ 114,373,114 |
| Public Health Services |
$ 16,487,141 |
$ 29,158,430 |
$ 18,230,430 |
| Employment & Social Services |
$ 113,519,033 |
$ 126,893,138 |
$ 125,387,459 |
General purpose revenues are projected to increase approximately 3% over FY20-21 Adopted Budget and approximately 5% over FY19-20 actual revenues. Growth in property tax revenues, Teeter, sales tax, and document transfer taxes is offset by reductions in A-87 cost recoveries. Below is a table showing the general purpose revenue, Prop 172 and Realignment comparison:
| |
2019-20
Actuals |
2020-21
Adopted |
2021-22
Recommended |
| General Purpose Revenue |
$ 82,069,230 |
$ 83,522,230 |
$ 86,376,395 |
| Prop 172 Public Safety |
$ 21,596,112 |
$ 21,316,214 |
$ 22,829,889 |
| Realignment 2011 Public Safety |
$ 15,733,613 |
$ 15,201,794 |
$ 18,351,387 |
| Realignment 2011 HHSA |
$ 16,119,802 |
$ 17,457,889 |
$ 16,977,269 |
| Realignment 1991 HHSA |
$ 33,969,997 |
$ 32,377,575 |
$ 35,096,213 |
The Recommended Budget assumes a carryforward General Fund unassigned fund balance of approximately $12 million, which is higher than the amount assumed in the FY20-21 Recommended Budget of $6.4 million. A portion of this carryforward balance, about $3.4 million, is used to fund one-time appropriations such as contingencies, while the remaining amount is recommended to be used to fund the Infor Financial System Upgrade and the remaining budgetary gap which are one-time uses consistent with policy. This fund balance assumption is significantly higher than in the past, however, staff believe this is a reasonable assumption due to high vacancy savings and better than expected revenues in FY20-21. Use of fund balances of this size may not recur in the future.
To assist in balancing the Recommended Budget, 20 positions are being recommended to be eliminated or un-funded, and 38 positions will remain unfunded from FY20-21. Only 15 new positions are being added, and of those, 12 are funded with non-general fund funds. While the net number of position reductions in FY21-22 is less than the 50.75 net FTE decrease from FY20-21, in addition to unfunding or holding vacant a total of 58 positions, this budget assumes a salary savings of $9.9 million or a 28% increase from the prior year. The utilization of salary savings allow for the budget to take advantage of historical vacancies while providing departments the flexibility to hire essential positions when qualified candidates are available.
The table in the Attachment E reflects the details for position changes that are included in the FY21-22 Recommended Budget, below is a summary table.
| 2021-22 Recommended Position Changes |
| |
|
|
| Recommended New Positions |
| Department |
FTE |
Funding Source |
| Assessor/Clerk-Recorder/Elections |
1.0 |
General Fund |
| Community Services |
1.0 |
General Fund |
| District Attorney |
2.0 |
Non General Fund |
| HHSA |
7.0 |
Non General Fund |
| Innovation & Technology Services |
3.0 |
Non General Fund |
| Library |
1.0 |
General Fund |
| |
|
|
| |
15.0 |
|
| |
|
|
| Positions Previously Held Vacant but Re-funding |
| Department |
FTE |
Funding Source |
| Assessor/Clerk-Recorder/Elections |
1.0 |
General Fund |
| Animals Services |
1.0 |
Non General Fund |
| Community Services |
1.0 |
Non General Fund |
| HHSA |
5.0 |
Non General Fund |
| Human Resources |
1.0 |
General Fund |
| Sheriff - Public Administrator |
1.0 |
General Fund |
| |
|
|
| |
10.0 |
|
| |
|
|
| Positions Unfunded and Held Vacant |
| Department |
FTE |
Funding Source |
| Probation |
2.0 |
General Fund/Prop 172 |
| |
|
|
| |
2.0 |
|
| |
|
|
| Positions Unfunded and Eliminated |
| Department |
FTE |
Funding Source |
| District Attorney |
1.0 |
Grants/General Fund |
| HHSA |
16.0 |
Non General Fund |
| Probation |
1.0 |
General Fund/Prop 172 |
| |
|
|
| |
18.0 |
|
| |
|
|
| Net Position Requests |
5.0 |
|
The FY21-22 Recommended Budget also includes funding for a number of non-personnel expenditures including vehicle purchases and equipment. These items are summarized in the FY21-22 Authorized Equipment List presented in Attachment H. All vehicle replacements are recommended by the Fleet Manager.
Strategic Plan
In December 2020, the Board approved the 2020-2025 Strategic Plan and Priority Focus Areas. In this second full year of the plan, the FY21-22 budget includes resources designed to further advance the Priority Focus Area objectives. The following table highlights a few of these initiatives. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board adjusted its end date of the strategic plan from 2024 to 2025 recognizing additional time needed to achieve plan objectives.
Strategic Plan Initiatives Targeted in FY21-22 Recommended Budget
| Strategic Plan Goal |
Initiatives |
| Thriving Residents |
Establish commitment to “Health in all policies”
Solidify the County’s commitment to inclusion and diversity
Develop action plan to implement chances to reduce racial disparities in the criminal justice system
Increase availability of evidence based home visiting programs for children, youth and families
Support effects for advancing emergency response readiness for aging adults
Reduce the prevalence and transmission of infectious diseases with an emphasis on sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis |
| Safe Communities |
Explore ongoing financing mechanism for road and bridge maintenance.
Increase disaster preparedness and resiliency of the Yolo County community and organization
Reduce criminal activity and recidivism
Develop plan for long-term sustainability of rural fire protection services |
| Sustainable Environment |
Ensure a balanced water portfolio
Reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions |
| Flourishing Agriculture |
Increase the preservation of agricultural land
Increase stability and supports for agricultural workers and agricultural employers |
| Robust Economy |
Reduce barriers related to the development of affordable housing units
Increase commercial development potential in the unincorporated areas
Establish data collection to track outcomes for employment services participants
Increase the public benefit and operational potential of County assets
Expand rural community support |
Below is an overview of the County department budgets. The narrative includes discussion about the reductions included to balance the FY21-22 Recommended Budget, a summary of major programs as well as highlights of significant budget changes.
Health and Human Services
Health and Human Services: Net County Cost $10,237,945
The FY21-22 Recommended Budget for the Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) includes adding 7 new non-general fund positions and re-funding 5 previously held vacant positions with State and Federal funding. These increases are offset by reducing 16 vacant positions in Behavioral Health due to additional Full Service Partnership Services being contracted out to community based organizations.
The State of California has formally recognized the department as an integrated and comprehensive health and human services agency. This has allowed an ability to reallocate 2011 Realignment funds between the Protective Services subaccount and the Behavioral Health subaccount. This new ability, combined with the existing ability per Welfare and Institutions Code § 17600.20 to reallocate funds between social services, health, and mental health accounts, allows HHSA to allocate funds more flexibly to fund the programs that are most needed. These reallocations may help avoid potential fund balance deficits.
In the FY21-22 Recommended Budget, the 2011 Realignment Protective Services fund was able to be shifted among many social service programs where revenues were not projected to cover the expenditures. Some of the programs benefitting from the shift are Foster Care and Adoptions, and Extended Foster Care. HHSA also utilized the allowed flexibility in 1991 Realignment to transfer from Public Health to Core Mental Health and Social Services Public Assistance. These are areas where historically revenue growth has not kept up with the costs of service, and these shifts are necessary to fully fund these programs and meet required service levels.
HHSA Administration includes increases for staff merit increases and standard cost of living adjustments, department systems for three new Systems Software Specialists, and a replacement electric forklift. The purchase of the forklift has been approved by the Fleet Supervisor.
In FY20-21, Public Health was awarded an initial $2.8 million Epidemiology Laboratory Capacity (ELC) Enhancing Detection grant to fund COVID response operations, of which $2.0 million has been budgeted in FY21-22. Public Health also received an additional ELC grant for $10.5 million and funding will be incorporated fully at adopted budget. In addition, County staff re-negotiated the Jail medical services Wellpath contract for a reduction of 30% ($1.3 million savings) due to lower populations at County jail facilities.
In the Social Services division, the Recommended Budget includes 6 new positions and the re-funding of one previously held vacant position. The 6 new positions consist of two (2) Office Support Specialist and four (4) Service Center Administrative Specialists. The 2 Office Support Specialists will be supporting Child Welfare Emergency Response, Court Investigations and Child Welfare. The Service Center Administrative Specialists will support the CalWorks, Medi-Cal and CalFresh programs. The re-funded position is a Deputy Branch Director who will have oversight and duties within the Child, Youth and Family Branch. All of the positions are funded with Federal, State and Realignment funds.
Within Social Services Public Assistance three main programs are experiencing cost increases partly due to caseload growth and more expensive placement costs: Adoptions, Foster Care, and IHSS Provider Wages. While Adoption costs increased $430,000, most of the cost can be covered with federal and realignment revenue.
In FY20-21, the total cost of Foster Care increased $1.5 million. In FY21-22, the Recommended Budget includes an additional increase of $789,000. Some of the increase is funded with federal funds, but the estimated amount of increases due to non-federal cases will require most of the cost growth be funded by other local sources which include Public Health realignment and IGT.
IHSS Provider costs to the County increased due to the annual 4% inflator ($262,000) and the Board negotiated $0.75/hour wage supplement for a total growth of $524,000.
The FY21-22 Recommended Budget for Homeless Services reflects a reduction of $4.4 million due to the conclusion of CARES Act funding for Project Roomkey which was part of the County’s COVID response. On May 18th, Health and Human Services took an item to the Board of Supervisor’s to receive approval to use American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to share in Project Roomkey, matching 50% of the cost from July-December should HHSA find a city to partner. However, at the time of preparation of the Recommended Budget, it was not known which cities would participate and thus costs for continuing Project Roomkey will come forward after the Recommended Budget, but as needed to continue the program.
Behavioral Health received a total of three (3) new grants through the District Attorney’s office for Juvenile Mental Health Court, diversion programs and other justice assistance in the amount of $934,000. Behavioral Health also has a reduction of 16 positions due to the Full Service Partnership (FSP) services being contracted out to community based organizations, for a reduction of salaries and benefits of $1.8 million while increasing services and supplies by a similar amount to account for the contracts.
In a strategy to reduce general fund net county cost, $523,600 in additional IGT funds were used to cover wage increases in IHSS, and $522,300 in additional Public Health realignment for medical services not covered by Medi-Cal or exceeding Medi-Cal reimbursement, and come at a cost to the County.
Community Services
Community Services: Net County Cost $1,064,496
The FY21-22 Recommended Budget for Community Services includes over $28 million in capital projects within the Roads and Integrated Waste Management divisions, $612,000 in equipment, and the Cannabis Task Force’s planned move to a new modular building on the Beamer campus from their present location.
Planning: The FY21-22 Recommended Budget for the overall Planning division includes a reduction in various services and supplies accounts and a salary savings factor of $98,000 to offset rising program and salary and benefit costs.
The Planning program budget includes a reduction in Zoning Permit revenue to align with prior year actuals. The division is also re-classifying two Cannabis positions into Limited Term Planner positions due to anticipation of a surge in workload including developing customer materials and reviewing licensing and permits from cultivators as the Comprehensive Land Use Process begins. The two positions will be funded by reimbursements from the Cannabis, Building, and County Service Areas divisions based on work performed.
The division has created a small budget increase for the Climate Sustainability Project including a new Senior Administrative Services Analyst position and various Services and Supplies. The department requested additional Services and Supplies to hire outside consultants to expedite the project; however, this request was deferred for consideration with the FY21-22 Adopted Budget.
Environmental Health (EH): The FY21-22 Recommended Budget for Environmental Health reflects a reduction in Food Establishment fees due to COVID-19. The reduction in fee revenue is offset by an increase in Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA) inspections including emergency response inspection and hazardous materials inspection fees. Salary and Benefits have increased due to a salary increase for the Director, restoring an Accounting Technician position back to a full FTE after the division held it vacant for the first quarter in FY20-21 as a cost savings measure, and regular merit and cost of living adjustments.
The division plans to bring recommended fee increases to the Board in late 2021 as a number of fees continue to be less than full cost recovery requiring the division to supplement revenues with $361,000 from restricted Certified Unified Program Agency Fund Balance and $107,000 in General Fund support.
Integrated Waste Management (IWM): The FY21-22 Recommended Budget for IWM includes $8.3 million for capital projects and $80,500 for various capital equipment purchases. All capital purchases are funded by the Landfill Enterprise fund. The budget for capital projects includes the construction of waste management unit 6F ($4 million), an in-vessel digester electric control system ($1.3 million) and the groundwater pumping and piping system, including installing an electric transformer ($863,000). A full list of the proposed IWM Capital Projects is included as part of Attachment J. The Recommended Budget also includes an additional key box for key management system, a surveillance camera system to track illegal dumping in Esparto and replacement of a regular water quality truck. The department originally requested an electric truck; however, Fleet has determined the market is not mature enough for this type of hybrid request. Other significant changes include a $632,000 reduction in Services and Supplies due to the Environmental Impact Report and electrical engineering work for the digester projects being completed in the current fiscal year, and Northern Recycling taking over the operations of the construction and demolition facility and anaerobic digester cell operation.
Roads: The FY21-22 Recommended Budget for Roads includes $19.6 million for road and bridge improvement projects, including the various bridge replacement projects and the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) Guardrail project. The budget also includes $491,000 for equipment purchases, which include a 10-wheeler dump truck and a 4,000-gallon water truck. These items are Highway User Tax Account funded and have been approved by Fleet. A full list of the proposed equipment and capital improvement projects is included as Attachment K. The table below reflects the Roads fund projects that will be in the construction phase in FY21-22:
| Projects |
2021-22
Recommended |
| Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) Guardrail Project |
$ 6,900,000 |
| Bridge Replacement - Road 40 over Cache Creek |
$ 4,500,000 |
| 2022 Chip Seal Project |
$ 500,000 |
| CR 27 Bike & Safety Improvement Project |
$ 150,000 |
The Recommended Budget also includes new building awnings, bathroom and training room renovations, and emergency power. The building improvements and renovations to the Roads administrative building will be funded with HUTA revenue.
Cannabis: The FY21-22 Recommended Budget for the Cannabis Taskforce is $3.5 million, an increase of $1 million from fiscal year FY20-21 mostly due to the planned move from 120 W. Main Street into a new modular building on the Beamer Campus. Offsetting this increase is a reduction in services and supplies due to a decrease in accounting charges and a decrease in use of outside consultants which will no longer be needed since the Cannabis Use Land Ordinance (CLUO) is expected to be adopted.
The division has re-classified two positions, one officer and one manager, to Limited Term positions to assist in the Planning division. Once the CLUO is adopted it is anticipated Planning will see a surge in workload for licensing and permits from cultivators. Additionally, Cannabis has agreed to fund a full-time Revenue Collector position within the Department of Financial Services to assist with tax collection and compliance efforts, compared to one-half FTE in the prior year.
Fleet: The FY21-22 Recommended Budget for the Fleet division includes funding for a backup power generator and a key control management system to better safeguard vehicle keys. Additionally, repairs to the building and renovating the office and bathroom are included in the budget. All equipment and improvements will be paid for using Fleet fund balance.
County Service Areas:
The FY21-22 Recommended Budget for County Service Areas (CSA) reflects a balanced budget with no areas of concern; however, the annual assessments will not be completed until July or August so minor changes are expected in the Adopted Budget. Three projects, including the painting of the pintail well and the arsenic treatment building for the Wild Wings Water CSA, have also been included in the Recommended Budget. The third project is a road slurry treatment for the El Macero CSA. All projects will be funded by assessment revenue and CSA fund balances.
General Government
Agriculture - Net County Cost $1,000,072
The FY21-22 Recommended Budget for Agriculture reflects a total revenue reduction of $70,000 primarily due to a reduction in inspections of planted sunflower fields, elimination of Cannabis Outreach funds and a reduction of the High-Risk Pest agreement with the State. Overall expenditures increased $8,000 primarily due to a general increase in salary and benefit costs mostly offset by underfilling an Agricultural Standards Inspector IV position and a reduction in services and supplies to balance the budget. The department re-classified an Administrative Clerk II position to be converted to an Office Support Specialist to process complicated State billing reports. Additionally, the Agriculture budget includes a salary savings factor of $40,000.
The renovation of 120 W. Main Street has been delayed until FY21-22. The department will complete a carryforward request at year-end when more realistic estimates are known.
Assessor/Clerk-Recorder/Elections (ACE) - Net County Cost $5,622,148
The FY21-22 Recommended Budget includes reductions in State revenue of $814,000 due to one-time Elections reimbursement in FY20-21 and the conclusion of the State Supplementation for County Assessor’s Program (SSCAP). The reduction in State revenue is partially offset by an increase of expected election services reimbursement from local jurisdictions for $195,000.
The Recommended Budget also includes Salary and Benefit increases of $170,000 for promotions and position changes that occurred during the current fiscal year and regular merit and cost of living adjustments. To balance the budget, the department has a salary savings factor of $264,000, or 4%, based on historical actuals. The Elections division added a new Senior Administrative Services Analyst position with an IT focus to provide support to the division. Additionally, the department is re-classifying an Appraiser III to a Senior Appraiser within the Assessor’s division and re-classifying a Managing Deputy to an Admin Services Analyst within the Election’s division to better suit the needs of the department.
The department’s requested budget included overtime and Extra Help requests for the Assessor’s and Election’s divisions as well as additional costs for several elections. These requests have been deferred for consideration with the FY21-22 Adopted Budget.
Department of Financial Services (DFS) - Net County Cost: $4,605,829
The FY21-22 Recommended Budget includes a $106,000 increase in revenue primarily due to increases in accounting charges and revenue associated with administration of Assessments and Tax Collection. Additional increases in Property Tax Administrative fees, Procurement fees and increased reimbursement from the Treasury pool have allowed the department to absorb the elimination of criminal justice fee collections due to AB 1869.
The Recommended Budget also includes an increase of $924,000 in Salary and Benefits primarily due to adding three Infor upgrade project backfill positions (3.0 FTE), refunding two positions (0.88 FTE) from assisting at the COVID Response Operations Center (CROC), and regular merit and cost of living adjustments. The Recommended Budget also includes an extension of the Limited Term Auditor I position, converting the Limited Term Senior Accounting Technician to a permanent position, and two re-classifications from Accountant II to Accountant III that occurred during the current fiscal year. Financial Services has a salary savings factor of $107,000 for FY21-22.
The department’s requested budget included a new Senior Accounting Technician for the Property Tax unit and re-funding the Office Support Specialist position that was held vacant as a cost saving measure in FY20-21. The two requests have been deferred for consideration with the FY21-22 Adopted Budget.
Human Resources - Net County Cost: $2,925,553
The FY21-22 Recommended Budget includes an increase in Salary and Benefits of $600,000 mostly due to adding two positions for the Infor upgrade project and refunding of a Personnel Specialist II position as this position was budgeted at COVID Response Operations Center (CROC) throughout FY20-21. As a cost saving measure in FY20-21, a Senior Personnel Analyst position was reduced to 0.5 FTE. In the FY21-22 Recommended Budget, the position was restored to a full FTE. Additionally, converting a Payroll Technician from 0.7 FTE to 1.0 FTE to assist with the increasing volume of payroll transactions the department processes. The current payroll process uses manual workarounds which contributes to the demand on staff time. To balance the budget, the department reduced various Services and Supplies accounts by $15,000.
County Administrator’s Office - Net County Cost $4,446,056
The FY21-22 Recommended Budget for the County Administrator’s Office includes the salary and benefit impact of the partial funding of nine staff returning from the COVID-19 Response Operations Center (CROC) resulting in an increase of approximately $600,000.
The continuation of two State grants have been re-budgeted in the FY21-22 Recommended Budget. The Capay Open Space/CNRA River Parkways grant to restore the Cache Creek former gravel mine sites was scheduled to be completed near the end of FY20-21. However, the FY21-22 Recommended Budget includes the remaining $26,000 to close out the project. The Huff Corner Levee Risk Reduction project has budgeted $200,000 for asset improvements to the levee.
Also, included in the CAO’s Recommended Budget is one general fund augmentation for $100,000 for the re-districting consulting services contract. The net county cost of the addition is offset by $100,000 in salary savings.
Board of Supervisors - Net County Cost: $2,480,299
The FY21-22 Recommended Budget for the Board of Supervisors includes standard salary merit and benefit increases of approximately $63,000. Service and supplies increased $118,000 due to an increase in general liability insurance, one time and annual costs associated with Granicus closed circuit captioning for Board meetings and rent expense increase to reflect the department’s portion of the West Sacramento building financing.
County Counsel - Net County Cost $2,447,400
The FY21-22 Recommended Budget for County Counsel includes underfilling a Senior Deputy County Counsel position partially offsetting regular salary and cost of living adjustments for a net increase of approximately $18,000. Additionally, services and supplies increased $18,000 due to increases in various internal charges. Indigent Defense costs essentially remains the same.
Library - Net County Cost $274,554
The FY21-22 Recommended Budget includes increases in property tax income, consistent with the countywide property tax growth rate assumption, and an additional $750,000 in redevelopment agency (RDA) funding for retroactive payments from prior years. The Recommended Budget includes an Integrated Library System (ILS) to maintain customer data, track fines and fees, and hold the library catalog. The cost of this system is $750,000 and will be funded by parcel tax money, additional RDA money, and fund balance. Additionally, Library Operations will transfer $600,000 to help fund the Yolo Library Replacement Capital Improvement Project.
The net county cost for the Library is $278,000, which includes $144,000 for the costs associated with the Museum Curator position at the Gibson House Museum. The department converted the Limited Term position into a permanent position in order to continue the County’s work with the Yolo County Historical Collection.
General Services - Net County Cost $3,850,167
The Facilities division expenditures include the standard merit and cost of living increases, along with the addition of 2 FTE. A Manager position and a Fiscal Administrative Officer were transferred to the Facilities division from the Innovation and Technology Services Department, for a net zero increase to the County FTE count. Other increases in Facilities include $184,000 for facilities maintenance contracts and purchase orders and $78,000 for increases in various utilities and security patrol contracts.
Numerous Facility projects will be funded by Accumulated Capital Outlay (ACO) funds in the amount of $1.8 million. Those projects include roof replacement projects at the Sheriff Morgue, Sheriff Administration building, Fleet building, HHSA Gonzalez and 500 Jefferson B building in West Sacramento. Additional smaller projects include gutter guards for various county buildings, replacement DA building windows, fire hydrants and Sheriff Detention shower pans and ground valves.
The Facilities division Recommended Budget also includes general fund projects including tree trimming in multiple county properties and backflow devices for the airport. The EV Charging Station project has been transferred from Community Services to the Facilities division for implementation. While the project is funded by a federal grant through the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) Green Region Program, the county match of $117,000 contributed to the increase in the General Service net county cost.
To achieve a balanced budget, the Facilities division was asked to defer general fund augmentation requests for new computers. The division was also asked to absorb various items in their existing appropriations including a potential retirement buyout of $24,000. The budget also includes a 1% salary savings which equates to approximately $35,000. Based on historical trends, also included in the Recommended Budget, is a reduction of $75,000 in services and supplies.
To decrease the Parks division net county cost and balance their FY21-22 Recommended Budget, Parks was asked to defer many general fund augmentation requests to the Adopted Budget or if the division was projecting a surplus in FY20-21, to purchase one time assets prior to the close of the current fiscal year. The Parks division was able to purchase a blower, gator, trailer and a mower in FY20-21 and reduce their general fund requests for FY21-22.
In FY20-21, the management of the Tuli Mem Park and Pool Center became the responsibility of the Parks division. Intended to eventually be a self-sustaining park with the use of Proposition 218 funds and a community endowment, the first, and now second year of operation has shown the need for substantial county general fund support to operate. The majority of the expense of $215,000 is for expenses related to pool operations including a lifeguard, pool manager, pool supplies and pool maintenance, and operational utility costs of $72,000. The net county cost for FY21-22 is $192,500.
Innovation and Technology Services - Net County Cost $107,557
The Innovation and Technology Services department consists of the ITS division and the Telecom division. Both divisions recover operational costs through an internal charge, referred to as IT Charges and Telecom Charges. IT charges consist of three individual charges - Connectivity to recover device connection to the network and help desk support, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) for the cost of countywide systems including HR/Payroll and the Infor Financial System, and Department Systems for IT specialists dedicated to a specific department and projects requested by county departments. Both Connectivity and ERP will theoretically be 100% reimbursed by IT charges to county departments. In Department Systems, the dedicated staff to specific departments are 100% reimbursed. The potential net county cost portion of the department is for the hours not charged out for projects.
Increases to the IT charges include the addition of a new ERP Analyst and an ERP Manager for the recently formed ERP team. During the FY20-21 Adopted Budget, two ERP Analysts were added to the ERP team. Those positions were originally in the Department of Financial Services and transferred to ITS for a net zero FTE increase to the County. Increases in Connectivity are due to increases in ongoing maintenance renewals and increases in staff support of the network function.
Adjustments to the ITS base budget include administrative and fiscal staff reorganization. The Fiscal Administrative Officer was transferred to General Services, along with a Manager position. Two Accountants were transferred to the Department of Financial Services as a pilot project of centralizing the accounting function but still performing ITS finance activities. The two Accountants will time study their IT task time to the ITS department and the expenses will continue to be captured in the IT charges calculation.
The Telecom division re-calculates the Telecom internal charge on an annual basis. In FY20-21, the rate was $51.65/line. The rate in FY21-22 has been reduced to $45.43/line. The reduction is due to the reduction of expenses and also an increase in the number of county lines (1,822 vs 2,162). The rate includes the reductions of debt payments for the Mitel phone system and the elimination of a vacant Administrative Services Analyst.
The department’s Requested budget included a general fund request to purchase Geographic Information System (GIS) aerial imagery. This request has been deferred until the FY21-22 Adopted Budget.
Law and Justice
Child Support Services - Net County Cost $0
The Child Support Services FY21-22 Recommended Budget includes $1.3 million additional State and Federal revenue that was reallocated from Sutter County and Colusa County related to the regionalization. Salary and Benefit costs have increased $1.2 million as eleven of the thirty-one new positions have been transferred from Colusa and Sutter in the FY21-22 Recommended Budget. The remaining employees will transition to Yolo County over the next five years. The department’s Services and Supplies have increased $112,000 primarily due to increased accounting charges.
The Recommended Budget also includes a $30,000 Child Support Services contingency to allow the department to use these funds as needed in order to maximize State and Federal allocations. The contingency originated from an agreement with the County to annually contribute $15,000 per year for use of the computer lab located inside the Child Support building. However, it was restructured to unencumber the funds in order to provide a mechanism which allows the Child Support department to leverage the funds and draw down state and/or federal matching funds when utilized.
District Attorney - Net County Cost $10,025,267
The District Attorney’s FY21-22 Recommended Budget includes new positions and numerous adjustments to funded positions. Two new positions are being added, one (limited term Paralegal) utilizing Consumer Fraud and Environmental Protection funds and the second (Legal Process Clerk), with grant funds in the Workers Compensation division. The District Attorney is also underfilling a number of positions: three Deputy District Attorneys and four Legal Secretaries creating a cost savings.
The DA’s FY21-22 Recommended Budget includes the transfer of three (3) existing positions (Deputy District Attorney IV, Paralegal and a DA Investigator II) to the newly created Conviction Integrity and Sentence Review Unit (CIU) from other DA units. The CIU will examine cases looking at factors such as seriousness of crimes, rehabilitation in prison, and the overall risk of reoffending if a person is released early. The CIU will also take victim input into consideration. The CIU will work with the Yolo County Public Defender’s office and Immigration Attorneys to ensure that older convictions do not result in immigration consequences.
The District Attorney worked collaboratively with the County to reduce net county cost by budgeting $344,000 in salary savings, absorbing $86,000 in promotions and replacing four vehicles with expenditure savings in FY20-21 in lieu of requesting these vehicles in FY21-22. This action was approved by the Board of Supervisors on May 18, 2021.
Probation - Net County Cost: $ 1,893,864
The Probation department has unfunded and held vacant two positions, a Probation Aide and an Administrative Assistant. Additionally, staff recommends deletion of one position, a vacant Secretary to the Director, and given historical vacancies, recommends a salary savings factor of $288,000 in order to balance the budget. The FY21-22 Recommended Budget also includes the transition of one Deputy Probation Officer II previously funded by the Community Correction Partnership (CCP) to the Adult Probation Services division. This action was taken proactively in anticipation of expected reductions in Probation’s allocation of CCP funding.
The Recommended Budget includes approximately $1,000,000 in a Community Services Infrastructure Grant awarded to the County in 2019 to provide additional housing in West Sacramento and Woodland in order to expand access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment services to individuals with a mental health and/or substance use condition who are currently experiencing homelessness, or who have a recent history of homelessness and who are involved in the criminal justice system. Though these funds were appropriated with the FY20-21 Adopted Budget, the department does not expect to purchase the house funded by this grant until early in the FY21-22 fiscal year and thus it requires re-appropriation.
Staff recommends the use of $50,000 in Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA) fund balance to assist in implementation of a community-based Healing and Prevention Task Force whose focus addresses the immediate social and emotional health needs of young people in the community. Additionally, the Recommended budget includes a $600,000 increase in anticipated JJCPA revenues due to higher than anticipated growth in the Enhancing Law Enforcement Activities State fund. Finally, the budget includes a $1,009,000 transfer in available fund balances from the Community Corrections Performance Incentive, AB109 Planning, DNA Identification and Youth Offender Block Grant, and JJCPA funds to bridge funding gaps and balance the Probation budget. Continued reliance on special revenue fund balance to balance Probation’s budget may not be a viable long-term solution, and staff are monitoring longer term options.
The department is preparing for the implementation of Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Realignment. In anticipation of this transition of previously State held juveniles transitioning back to counties, the department requested programming and structural improvement augmentations for the JDF in the amount of $1,083,463. However, at the May 4 Board meeting, the Board voted to join a consortium of California counties allowing any Yolo County juveniles who are on the DJJ track to be placed in alternate locations. The department anticipates requesting funding for the yet undetermined consortium costs during the Adopted Budget process.
Public Defender: Net County Cost $8,874,777
The Public Defender’s FY21-22 Recommended Budget includes base budget reductions in the areas of IT department systems charges, discovery expense and transportation and travel to help partially offset imposed increases in utilities, network connectivity and ERP charges, public liability insurances, and standard merit and cost of living increases in salary and benefits. These base reductions are based on the limited reduction options within the Public Defender’s office. In order to not increase net county cost, the department was asked to absorb requested staff promotions in their existing salary appropriations.
Sheriff: Net County Cost $26,526,39
In the Sheriff’s FY21-22 Recommended Budget, a number of General Fund and Non-General Fund augmentations are recommended for approval.
Non-general fund augmentations include three replacement patrol vehicles $323,100, for the Capay Valley Patrol, with $215,400 provided by the Yocha Dehe Wintun tribal government and the remaining cost of $107,700 funded with general fund. Cannabis Measure K funds is providing $200,000 for continued support of the resident deputy program for the goal of criminal enforcement of illegal cultivation.
Animal Services augmentations include the re-funding of a vacant Animal Services Officer, extra help and leave buyback, and the full funding of the UCD vet contract. The Animal Services budget is a cost sharing agreement with the cities of West Sacramento, Davis, Woodland and Winters, and the UCD campus. The net County cost for Animal Services, $624,600 represents the County’s share of the cost sharing agreement.
In FY21-22, the Jail Management/Records Management (JMS/RMS) upgrade project will be starting its third and final year of implementation. The final year expenses will include end-user training, go-live system adjustments and implementing the add-on features such as IQ and the Inmates scanning system. Funding is from Small and Rural revenues and fund balance that has been reserved for this project.
Staff recommends the following general fund augmentations: $30,000 to fund the MOU with the District Attorney for the High Tech Crimes Unit, extra help funding of $54,000 to hire an In-Custody Program Manager for rehabilitative programming at the Detention center, $53,000 in partial funding of Boat Patrol overtime and holiday pay to provide extra coverage of waterways during the holiday boating season, $85,000 for additional Detention staff training. Additionally, the Recommended Budget includes the re-funding of a Deputy Public Administrator ($114,000), as recommended in the FY19-20 Yolo County Grand Jury report. The Grand Jury report indicates 2 FTE is needed to provide adequate service levels. When the Deputy Public Administrator position was held vacant in FY20-21 for budget balancing strategies, staffing levels in the Public Administrator’s office fell below adequate levels. By re-funding the vacant Deputy Public Administrator, the Sheriff’s office will meet the Grand Jury staffing requirements.
Due to mandated staffing levels from an MOU with the Courts, and a lack of State funding to fully cover the expenses, Court Security continues to rely on general fund. Salary savings for vacant positions continues to be budgeted to help close the funding gap. While in previous years vacancy savings have materialized, overtime has increased in order to compensate for the staffing vacancies. If salary savings do not materialize in FY21-22, Public Safety contingency will be required to fill the gap at the end of the fiscal year.
In order to reduce the department’s net county cost, general fund augmentations including new positions, requests to re-fund previously held vacant positions, replacement vehicles, training, and equipment and supplies, have been deferred to the Adopted Budget. The Sheriff’s department is deferring 20 new positions and the re-funding of 6.5 positions that were held vacant in FY20-21, for a total of $4.6 million. (See the Position table for details). Four replacement vehicles ($428,000), have also been deferred to the Adopted Budget. In addition to deferrals, base reductions have been made in services and supplies of approximately $200,000 across multiple divisions. Based on historical vacancy rates, salary savings of $510,000 in Detention and $450,000 in Patrol have been used to help reduce their net county cost.
Community Corrections Partnership (CCP):
The proposed FY FY21-22 Recommended Budget for CCP is reflected in the following table:
FY21-22 Community Corrections Partnership Budget
| Category |
2020-21
Adopted |
2021-22
Recommended |
Change |
| Beginning Fund Balance |
$ 1,244,006 |
$ 566,327 |
$ 677,679) |
| |
|
|
|
| Base Allocation |
$ 7,816,193 |
$ 8,506,132 |
$ 689,939 |
| Growth Allocation |
$ - |
$ 1,175,269 |
$ 1,175,269 |
| Backfill |
$ 513,115 |
$ - |
$ (513,115) |
| Total Revenues |
$ 8,329,308 |
$ 9,681,401 |
$ 1,352,093 |
| |
|
|
|
| Total Resources |
$ 9,573,314 |
$ 10,247,728 |
$ 674,414 |
| |
|
|
|
| District Attorney |
$ 427,093 |
$ 427,093 |
$ - |
| Probation** |
$ 5,181,655 |
$ 4,998,432 |
$ (183,223) |
| Public Defender |
$ 143,457 |
$ 146,924 |
$ 3,467 |
| Sheriff |
$ 3,206,401 |
$ 2,933,994 |
$ (272,407) |
| Countywide |
$ 48,381 |
$ 71,691 |
$ 23,310 |
| Total Funding Allocation |
$ 9,006,987 |
$ 8,578,134 |
$ (428,853) |
| |
|
|
|
| Ending Fund Balance |
$ 566,327 |
$ 1,669,594 |
$ 1,103,267 |
* The fund balance amounts are estimates at a point in time.
**Probation’s allocation includes pass-through funding for Treatment, Day Reporting Center, IGT House, Court Portal & the Court Diversion Programs.
The Community Correction Partnership (CCP) has met since January 2021 in the development of their budget. The CCP is reviewing an option to shift their budget model to a percentage-based budget and to increase the percentage of funding dedicated to treatment and innovative programs to better align to the CCP Strategic Plan.
As the CCP has not submitted a budget that has been approved by the CCP executive committee at this time, the Recommended budget above reflects assumptions of a relatively status quo budget from FY20-21 to FY21-22, and significant changes are anticipated to be required for the Adopted Budget in order to begin the transition to a new budgeting model. The CCP executive committee has been made aware that general fund resources needed to facilitate a shift in the funding model may be limited or unavailable and the CCP should consider transition timelines with this in mind.
Capital Improvement Program
The FY21-22 Recommended Budget includes a Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budget of $46.6 million. This budget includes funding for the wind-down of payments for the Monroe Jail Expansion, as well as the continuation of the Leinberger Jail Expansion, Knights Landing Levee Repairs and Yolo Library Replacement projects. The Monroe and Leinberger Jail Expansions are both being partially financed from the CIP bond issued in July 2017. For Knights Landing Levee repairs, the County was awarded $15.9 million in grant funds from the State Department of Water Resources to help increase flood protection from 25 years to 100-year flood levels to reduce flood risk for the Knights Landing Basin area. The local match is 10%, or approximately $1.6 million. In the FY19-20 Adopted and the FY20-21 Adopted Budgets, funds from Cannabis Tax revenues and the general fund, in the amount of $1.54 million, have been reserved leaving a small portion of $65,000 left to be funded. The Yolo Library Replacement project is funded by a variety of sources including Development Impact Fees, County Library funds, and a large portion from donations. Should these expected donations not materialize, the project may have a funding gap of approximately $1 million that would need to be addressed come adopted budget. The table below provides a summary of the FY21-22 CIP budget.
FY21-22 Recommended CIP Budget
| Project |
2021-22
Recommended |
| Monroe Jail Expansion |
$510,000 |
| Leinberger Expansion |
$31,400,000 |
| Knights Landing Levee |
$9,300,000 |
| Yolo Library |
$3,000,000 |
| Esparto Park Improvement |
$143,000 |
| Facilities Capital Projects |
$2,255,000 |
| Total |
$46,608,000 |
Other Budget Assumptions and Issues
American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act Funding: Congress and the President of the United States approved the American Rescue Plan in March 2021. The County of Yolo through the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund is scheduled to receive approximately $42.8 million with half to be received in May 2021 and half to be received in May 2022.
The American Rescue Plan can be used to (1) respond to the pandemic and the associated negative economic impacts, (2) provide premium pay, (3) replace lost revenues, and (4) invest in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure and can be expended between March 2021 and December 2024. The Board of Supervisors approved a number of principles for the use of ARP funds in March 2021, which includes treating the funds as one–time in nature, so while the ARP allocation is a significant amount of federal resources the County should avoid depending on it to balance the operating budget.
County staff are presently developing an expenditure plan for the ARP funding which is expected to be brought to the Board in August 2021. Any planned expenditures of ARP funding will be incorporated into the FY21-22 budget at adopted budget in September.
Cannabis Tax Expenditure Plan: In the current year, the County has collected $1,129,700 in Cannabis Tax revenues from the first two quarters of FY20-21 and earned $35,140 in interest. The County adopted a framework for Cannabis Tax Revenues which allows funds to be appropriated only after receipt. The remaining two quarters of tax collection for FY20-21 will be appropriated with the adopted budget.
Pursuant to the County’s cannabis tax ordinance, staff drafted a recommended expenditure plan included as Attachment M. Of note, the proposed expenditure plan includes significant investments in early childhood intervention through the Yolo Family Poverty Reduction Pilot (Universal Basic Income Pilot), Differential Response Funding for Child Welfare, and the First 5’s Child Project. The Cannabis Tax also provides funding for several Sheriff, Youth Development and Rural Community Investment program needs.
This Cannabis Tax Expenditure Plan was shared with the Cannabis Ad-Hoc Subcommittee on April 26, 2021. The expenditure plan was then reviewed with the Cannabis Tax Citizen’s Oversight Committee on May 11, 2021. The Citizen’s Oversight Committee expressed a desire to see more funding of specific needs in the rural areas where the Cannabis Tax is generated and recommended that the County communicate more widely on the process to apply for Cannabis Tax Funds in order to solicit a wider range of ideas before any additional allocations are made in the Adopted budget.
Health & Human Services Emerging Needs Contingency: In 2002, Yolo County participated in the Pooled Tobacco Securitization Program, which resulted in creation of the Ceres endowment fund that is held by a trustee as collateral for the outstanding tobacco bonds. Under investment strategies approved by the Board in 2002 and 2013, funds are deallocated annually from the Ceres endowment fund and made available for appropriation as a Health & Human Services Contingency fund that may be allocated by the Board throughout the fiscal year to programs and organizations that support emerging health and human service’s needs. An amount of $225,000 has been set aside for this purpose.
Rural Community Investments: The Rural Community Investment Program (formerly known as Rural Initiatives) was initiated in 2015 and serves to enhance economic development, as well as health and safety, for rural communities by addressing critical infrastructure needs in accordance with the strategic plan Safe Communities goal. Requested FY21-22 Rural Communities Investment Program allocations will be considered as part of the Adopted Budget in September.
Labor Negotiations: The County is currently in negotiation with three of its bargaining units including the General Unit, Probation Association, and Sheriff Management. These collectively represent approximately 55% of the County’s full time equivalent positions. The budget includes known increases for other bargaining units and includes an estimate for those units in bargaining. Should negotiations be complete by Adopted Budget any material differences from current assumptions will be addressed.
Pension Funding: The FY21-22 Recommended Budget includes $42.7 million in employer pension contributions, an increase of $2 million from the FY20-21 Adopted Budget. Employer contributions for FY21-22 were determined in the CalPERS Annual Valuation Report as of June 30, 2019. As discussed with the Board on several occasions, employer contribution rates have increased significantly over the past several years and are projected to continue increasing for a few more years before stabilizing. These increases are driven primarily by changes in CalPERS’ demographic and investment assumptions, particularly related to assumed mortality rates and a lower targeted rate of investment return. The table below shows the projected pension rates over the next five years.
Employer Pension Contribution Rates
| Fiscal Year |
Miscellaneous |
Safety |
| 2021-22 |
31.37% |
44.44% |
| 2022-23 |
32.40% |
45.50% |
| 2023-24 |
32.70% |
46.00% |
| 2024-25 |
33.00% |
46.30% |
| 2025-26 |
31.00% |
46.00% |
| 2026-27 |
30.80% |
44.30% |
In addition, CalPERS Board of Administration is performing their Asset Liability Management (ALM) process during calendar year 2021. The ALM process is done on a four-year basis and is used to set CalPERS investment assumption moving forward. This is the process that was used in December 2016 to lower the discount rate (investment target) from 7.5% to 7.0%. While uncertain at this point what the outcome will be of the 2021 ALM process, any reduction in the discount rate by CalPERS would significantly increase employer contribution rates in future years.
In May 2018, the Board approved a Pension Funding policy to establish best practices and guide the County’s effort to stabilize pension funding and address the unfunded pension liability. This action was a continuation of the effort to stabilize pension funding, following several prior actions including establishment of a pension accounting reserve, evaluation of discretionary contributions, and prepaying annual contributions. Notably, the Pension Funding policy established a Section 115 Trust to accumulate assets for pension obligations and provide for a supplemental charge on payroll expenditures for building the Trust balance to a minimum target level. In accordance with the policy, the FY21-22 Recommended Budget includes a 1.5% payroll charge, or approximately $2.0 million, for purposes of funding the Pension Trust.
Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB): The FY21-22 Recommended Budget includes $10.2 million in OPEB charges to departments, a decrease of $782,000 from the FY19-20 Adopted Budget. The OPEB actuarially determined contribution rate decreased from 7.8% of payroll in the FY20-21 Adopted Budget to 7.7% in the FY21-22 Recommended Budget.
In May 2011, the Board approved the creation of an irrevocable trust to accumulate assets for the purpose of reducing the OPEB liability. The initial policy had a funding ramp up over 15 years; however, the County achieved that ramp-up sooner than anticipated and in November 2019 updated the policy to fund the trust at the actuarially determined contribution level. The OPEB trust has a balance of approximately $19.9 million as of June 2020, and this is estimated to increase to $22.9 million based on contributions in FY20-21.
In addition to funding the OPEB trust, significant progress has been made in lowering the overall OPEB liability through the implementation of benefit caps for most employee units. As a result of these efforts, the overall OPEB liability declined by $3.5 million in the June 30, 2020 valuation. The table below shows the OPEB unfunded liability in each of the last three valuation reports.
OPEB Unfunded Liability
| Valuation Report |
Unfunded Liability |
| June 30, 2016 |
$82,126,000 |
| June 30, 2018 |
$68,662,000 |
| June 30, 2020 |
$65,180,000 |
Contingency and Reserves: In accordance with the Board Policy on Fund Balances and Reserves, the FY21-22 Recommended Budget includes the following reserve balances (Attachment N):
| General Reserve (5.7%) |
$ 14,256,043 |
| Liability Reserve |
$ 600,000 |
| CIP Reserve |
$ 1,823,655 |
| Audit Disallowance Reserve |
$ 2,000,000 |
| OPEB Trust* |
$ 29,490,303 |
| Pension Trust* |
$ 6,888,024 |
* Includes the estimated contributions for FY21-22.
The Board Policy on Fund Balance and Reserves establishes a General Reserve target of 10% of average General Fund expenditures. The Recommended Budget does not include any contribution to the reserve as part of the budget balancing strategy. Due to a lack of contribution to the general reserve over the last two years, the reserve percentage has fallen from 6.5% to 5.7%.
The FY21-22 Recommended Budget also provides appropriations for the following contingencies:
| General Fund Contingency |
$2,500,000 |
| Public Safety Contingency |
$1,100,000 |
| Roads Contingency |
$200,000 |
| Child Support Services Contingency |
$30,000 |
| HHS Emerging Needs |
$225,000 |
| Total Contingencies |
$4,055,000 |
The General Fund Contingency represents 1.4% of general purpose expenditures and is crucial in safeguarding against known risks and uncertainties that are identified for the FY21-22 Recommended Budget.
The Public Safety contingency of $1,100,000 represents 1.0% of Public Safety Fund operating fund expenditures. The contingency level is within the 1%-3% required in the Board policy on fund balance and reserves. HHSA contingency is 0% of total expenditures which is below the policy minimum of 1%. The HHSA contingency as well as Safety and Security and IT Innovation contingencies were excluded in order to balance the recommended budget. In addition, the Board previously communicated a specific interest in funding a Roads contingency to allow for pre-planning activities. While a request was submitted for $350,000 for that purpose, at this time the Recommended Budget is only able to include $200,000, and additional funding will be revisited at Adopted Budget. The Child Support contingency would provide Child Support a small amount of general funds that could be utilized if needed to maximize their State and Federal funding. In the past, Child Support, due to having no general fund available, would be conservative in their expenditures in order for the department not to exceed its State/Federal allocation. This small contingency of $35,000 is available should expenditures slightly exceed those allocations.
An HHS Emerging Needs contingency of $225,000 is budgeted in the Ceres fund from deallocated funds to be appropriated, when needed.
Funding of all contingencies will be revisited at adopted budget.
Items for Consideration in Adopted Budget
The Recommended Budget does not allocate funds to several areas which may need to be considered with the Adopted Budget in September. There are also several other emerging needs or topics that will need to be addressed at that time:
- Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Realignment – The Board received an update on the State Realignment of DJJ on May 4, 2021. Several options were received on how to address this population with the Board selecting to join a consortium through the California State Association of Counties. At this time, the full extent of costs associated with joining the consortium is not known, and thus funding the DJJ Realignment is being deferred until adopted budget to give additional time to obtain cost estimates from the consortium and in order to budget accurately.
- Fire District Sustainability – The County has been engaged in a multi-year discussion with rural fire districts on supporting their longer term programmatic and fiscal stability. The Fire Districts have communicated a request to the Board for receipt of Proposition 172 revenues from the County which is one of many options included in the Fire Sustainability study; however, the County has not dismissed considering all alternatives and options to best address the long-term sustainability of the districts. Staff is still refining the study and have gone through multiple iterations of the sustainability report, including feedback from the Fire Chiefs, and will seek direction from the Board in the upcoming months. Recognizing the County’s limited ability to provide on-going fiscal support, staff have also recently engaged in discussions on Fire District needs that may qualify for one-time assistance and encouraged them to submit those requests that qualify for American Rescue Plan funding. At this time, staff have not included one-time or on-going funding for sustaining fire districts in the Recommended Budget, which is consistent with prior years, and will reconsider with the Adopted Budget after receiving additional Board direction.
- Workers’ Compensation and General Liability Insurance – Additional increases to these insurance coverage premiums are anticipated (approximately 30% for Worker’s Compensation and 20% for General Liability). An estimated 15% increase was included with the Recommended Budget. The increases noted above would have a potential $500,000 impact to the County. These increases are due to two factors which include higher costs for obtaining excess insurance from carriers through YCPARMIA and due to YCPARMIA changing its model for charging insurance premiums to focus more on payroll amounts rather than risk history. This change in charging methodology is unfavorable to the county due to its relatively large member size in YCPARMIA compared to the County’s better risk experience than other members. Due to the timing of receipt of these cost estimates, the recommended budget only assumes a 15% increase to YCPARMIA rates, so the remainder will need to be included at adopted budget.
The table below provides a summary of the items that may be brought forward for consideration in the Adopted Budget. The list is not all inclusive and other items not listed may be brought forward.
| General Reserve Contribution to Restore to 6.5% |
$ 1,985,805 |
| IT Innovation Contingency |
$ 200,000 |
| Safety & Security Contingency |
$ 100,000 |
| Assessor/Clerk Recorder/Elections Staffing |
$ 215,000 |
| Community Services Climate Sustainability Consultants |
$ 250,000 |
| Financial Services Staffing |
$ 176,064 |
| Innovation & Technology GIS Imagery |
$ 166,879 |
| Probation JDF Program and Staffing |
$ 1,083,463 |
| Public Defender Department Systems |
$ 135,300 |
| Sheriff Equipment & Supplies |
$ 137,720 |
| Sheriff Programs |
$ 487,277 |
| Sheriff Staffing |
$ 4,083,217 |
| Sheriff Vehicles |
$ 428,000 |
| Estimated Total for Consideration |
$ 9,448,725 |
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