$1.78B Sonoma County Budget Approved With $14M For Fire Recovery

SANTA ROSA, CA — The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors adopted a $1.78-billion budget Friday after three days of hearings. County Administrator Sheryl Bratton said the Board started working on the 2019-2020 budget in April. County officials said the Board was tasked with adopting a structurally balanced budget in the wake of natural disasters, increasing costs and declining revenues.

"It is difficult to make decisions when the needs are greater than the resources but we prioritized our communities' needs and adopted a budget focused on recovery and resiliency, public safety and health services while saving for the next rainy day," Board Chair David Rabbitt said.

The recommended budget calls for the reduction of 92 positions, but through add-back revenue and restorations, the Board kept 52.

The Board restored nine positions in the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office to continue staffing the Sonoma Valley and Russian River substations.

United Way of the Wine Country received $125,000 in additional funding to develop a plan to enhance the 2-1-1 system, which provides information during disasters.

Creative Sonoma received $300,000 for a grant program that supports the arts in the county.

The Board approved the single largest prepayment on pension liability in its history. A $6.8 million prepayment toward pension obligations will help avoid interest costs of $9.5 million over 20 years. The county completed a $3.5 million pension payment in 2015.

The budget contains $5 million for infrastructure needs and $2.5 million for an economic uncertainty fund for a predicted economic downtown that economists expect at the end of 2020.

Most of the $1.78 billion budget is comprised of state and federal funding that must be allocated for specific programs. Eighteen percent of the budget -$321 million - is discretionary funds to support 25 county departments. There was a $14 million gap between ongoing revenue and requests by departments for ongoing funding.

The adopted budget includes $41.2 million for recovery and resiliency efforts after the 2017 wildfires and 2019 floods.

The budget contains $3 million to create a comprehensive community alert warning system, $8 million for a fuels reduction campaign and money to enhance emergency, fire and medical dispatches to unincorporated areas of the county.

The Sonoma County Department of Health Services will receive more than $2.5 million for peer counseling and family services for two years, and $3.8 million will fund residential care facilities and outpatient case management programs to support the most vulnerable county residents.

— Bay City News Service