SLO County supervisors approve nearly $1 billion budget. Here are 5 things to know
San Luis Obispo County will operate with a budget of nearly $1 billion for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
On June 20, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to adopt the $966,000,000 budget, with Supervisor Debbie Arnold dissenting.
Arnold didn’t agree with the board’s priorities, which no longer includes road maintenance.
The board’s ongoing priorities are to meet legal demands, meet debt service requirements and public safety.
First-tier priorities include homelessness, behavioral heath and housing, while second-tier priorities include storm recovery, economic development and water resiliency, assistant county administrative officer Rebecca Campbell said at a June 12 budget hearing.
From key spending areas to the multimillion-dollar deficit facing SLO County, here are five things to know about the 2023-24 budget.
Sheriff’s Office gets $63 million from SLO County general fund
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office will receive $63,602,650 from the county general fund during fiscal year 2023-2024, which is about a 6% increase from the 2022-2023 budget, according to the county budget report.
That’s almost 23% of the county’s general fund expenditures to general fund departments, and the largest amount allotted to any of those departments.
Despite its large budget, the Sheriff’s Office is struggling to keep its department fully staffed, Undersheriff Jim Voge said at the June 12 meeting.
In June, 28 employees at the Sheriff’s Office workforce were on leave — and 68% of those employees were out of the office due to worker’s compensation injuries, according Voge.
This means the office is spending a significant amount of money to pay staff overtime, he said.
“A sheriff’s office runs 24 hours a day, and when somebody is gone, we have to pay somebody, usually overtime,” Voge said. “We don’t have this big buffer of personnel.”
The Sheriff’s Office is working with the San Luis Obispo County Department of Human Resources to recruit more employees to fill the gap during the next fiscal year, Voge said.
Funding for homeless services division
The board agreed to allocate $1.4 million to fund the Homeless Services Division, according to Campbell.
The board directed staff to create the division in August to execute the county’s five-year plan to reduce homelessness by half.
The division, led by manager Joe Dzvonik, works with local homeless service providers and cities to develop more affordable housing; expand mental health, addiction and case management services, and identify new sources of funding.
Work to begin on Sheriff’s Office substation in Nipomo
The board voted to allocate $1.2 million to begin the design process for a long-awaited Sheriff’s Office patrol substation in Nipomo, according to the county budget report.
In March, Sheriff Ian Parkinson urged the board to designate funding for the substation.
With a population of about 18,176, Nipomo has roughly the same size population as the city of Arroyo Grande, which is home to about 18,456 people, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
However, the Arroyo Grande population is condensed into an area of 5.8 square miles, while Nipomo’s population sprawls across almost 15 square miles, Parkinson said.
Right now, Sheriff’s Office deputies respond to calls in Nipomo from the Oceano substation — so it takes them some time to travel to the scene, Parkinson said.
A substation in Nipomo would improve emergency response times in the South County community, and also provide a place for residents to report crimes, according to Parkinson.
The county’s general government building replacement reserve contributed $894,000 to the project, while $306,000 came from the Trilogy at Monarch Dunes housing development’s public facility fee, the report said.
SLO County budget includes $5 million deficit
The 2023-2024 SLO County budget has a deficit of $5.3 million, according to Campbell.
The county will use one-time funding to close the gap, including $1.4 million from the Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund, which was created by the federal American Rescue Plan Act
The county will also use $3.9 million in General Fund Rainy Day Reserve funds, according to the county budget report.
“This structural imbalance is acceptable but not ideal as the imbalance will be needed to be addressed in the future,” interim county administrative officer John Nilon said at the June 12 meeting.
SLO County isn’t the only government entity struggling with a deficit.
The California state budget for 2023-2024 contains a deficit of more than $20 million, according to the county budget report.
The state expects a $9 billion deficit for fiscal year 2024-2025, which could result in reduced state funding for SLO County, the report said.
About 39% of the county’s general fund revenue comes from state funds, the report said.
San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Bruce Gibson said he expects more budget cuts in the future.
“It is true that the next fiscal year, (2024-25), will pose more challenges,” Gibson said at the June 12 meeting.
SLO County Supervisor John Peschong agreed, though he was a bit more enthusiastic about a tighter budget.
“I am looking forward to next year’s budget with its budget cuts,” he said.
Temporary funding for employees to expire
The 2023-2024 budget relies on $5.9 million of temporary federal funding to pay 26 employees, the county budget report said.
This funding includes American Rescue Plan Act funds along with COVID-19 Designation Reserve funds, the report said.
The board approved the funding in 2021, and it lasts through the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
When the county assembles the 2024-2025 budget, it will need to find different funding sources for those 26 positions.
