Write your letter to the Bd of Sups and/or attend Budget Meeting (June 4 at 9AM)
Last Day Budget Hearing
At 1:30pm tomorrow/Tuesday the Board of Supervisors will complete our review of the budget for the coming '24-'25 fiscal year, which begins on July 1st.
The proposed budget is in many ways “status quo” as we do not yet know exactly how the State’s budget deficit and resulting cuts will impact our health and human services departments. (The State Legislature must pass a balanced budget by midnight on June 15th). Furthermore, the new 1/2 cent county sales tax that voters approved in March, Measure K, is in suspense due to pending litigation. This means that the $7.5 million that the tax would have generated this coming year cannot be budgeted.
Some of the hot topics during this year’s budget hearings have been eviction defense and funding for county roads. Several non-profit groups have asked the County to increase funding for eviction defense services in light of one-time state and federal funding that is going away. Further discussion on that topic is available here.
I proposed that we budget an additional $10M for roads at our at the May 22nd hearing, but did not get the two other votes needed to move forward. I receive requests from constituents for road repairs and safety improvements all the time. I’m concerned that very little to none of our property tax dollars or vehicle license fees are regularly allocated to roads and that this year’s proposed budget would reduce road maintenance by $1.5 million or 16% compared to last year. This is due largely to declining gas tax revenues that typically support the work. We also still have 88 storm-related projects (54 in 2023 and 34 in 2024) for which there is no identified source of funds.
The County Administrative Office and Community Development and Infrastructure departments responded by adding this memo to our budget hearing agenda for tomorrow. It outlines the many efforts and expenditures on roads that the County has made over the last seven years. While these investments are large, the need is larger. I will continue to advocate for increased investment in roadways, which constitute our largest shared public space.
You can view the full agenda for the Last Day Budget Hearing here:
https://santacruzcountyca.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=2062