Article Date: Wednesday, June 15, 2016
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors voted today to approve the Recommended Budget for the Fiscal Year 2016-17. The $3.9 billion spending plan allows the County to operate until the Adopted or “final” budget is completed and approved in September.
“Overall, we remain in good fiscal shape,” said Board Chair Roberta MacGlashan, Supervisor for District 4. “By watching our costs and carefully using the increased revenue from the recovering economy, we were not only able to maintain our current service levels but strategically add to some key programs to help our constituents.”
Recent investments in Sacramento County were maintained, including:
- Initiatives to address homelessness such as Rapid Rehousing, the Winter Shelter program, and the creation of a Director of Homeless Initiatives position;
- Intelligence-led policing model in the Sheriff’s Office;
- Rebalancing the Mental Health Crisis System to reduce reliance on emergency rooms and ensure individuals experiencing a mental health crisis receive the best treatment possible in the most appropriate setting;
- The Healthy Partners Program that provides healthcare services to undocumented immigrants;
- Implementation of a strategic plan to reduce disproportionate African-American child deaths through community-based contracts and targeted staffing in Child Protective Services, Public Health, and Probation;
- The Title IV-E foster care waiver pilot program, providing Child Protective Services and Probation with federal funding and flexibility to reduce cost and improve outcomes for foster care youth over a five-year period. This includes $1.8 million to expand the Child Abuse Prevention Center’s Birth and Beyond program;
- A Financial Abuse Unit in the Department of Health and Human Service’s Adult Protective Services;
- Community initiatives such as increasing code enforcement and graffiti abatement activities, enhancing the 311 Call Program so residents can report neighborhood concerns to County and get information with one phone call, and establishing a Community Prosecution Unit in the District Attorney’s Office;
- Animal care initiatives that focus on improving animal care, increasing spay/neuter services; and increasing the Animal Shelter’s live release rate;
- Efforts to reduce fire danger and illegal camping in the County’s Regional Parks.
“We are holding steady on a good, solid, balanced budget while adding minimal growth,” added County Executive Nav Gill. “We’ll be back in September to true-up the year-end balances and submit our annual Adopted Budget.”
The Board allocated additional funds to support programs including:
- Funding for Community Spay-Neuter and animal care programs
- Addition of a Community Prosecutor in the District Attorney’s Office
- Additional staffing for Sheriff and Intelligence-led policing programs
- Voter Registration training
- Increased building permit and plan review staff
- Mental health services for children
- IHSS caseload increase
- Mobile Mental Health Crisis Support Team
- Therapeutic Recreation Services Program
- Mattress Disposal and Stormwater Management program
The complete set of documents and details can be found at the Office of Financial Management’s website. Board actions will be posted to the site within two days.
