The Colusa County Board of Supervisors approved a preliminary budget last week that will allow the public agencies to function until a final budget is approved in September.
The $117.4 million spending plan, which starts today, is a $4.3 million increase to last years budget, said Colusa Administrative Officer Wendy Tyler.
Tyler said the $11.6 million gap between expenditures and the $105.8 million the county anticipates in revenue will be bridged largely by special revenues and carryover fund balances, mostly in various social services programs.
Tyler said she did not expect to see an increase in the countys $35.7 million general fund, and that a dip into reserves is not expected.
” While expenses went up within the recommended budget, we have no increase in the general fund. We had items fallen off, such as the juvenile detention facility construction fund,” Tyler said. ” That was $1 million in last years budget.
According to the preliminary budget, the single largest expenditure to the general fund is the countys payout in salaries and benefits.
” Salaries and benefits comprise 38.9 percent of the total budget, and have increased 4.7 percent over last years final adopted budget,” Tyler said.
Tyler said contingencies for unanticipated expenses are budgeted at $332,000, a slight decrease over last year, but she expected the county departments to do their best to stay within their budgeted appropriations.
” We may have a need for contingency funding, but we will address those things as they happen,” she said. ” We may be able to increase contingency by the time we have a final budget. At this point, we are just not sure.
Colusa County funds approximately 413 full time positions.
Preliminary budgets approved for departments include Social Services ($38. 3 million); Public Works ($21 million); Sheriffs Department ($15 million); Behavioral Health (14.7 million) County Administrative Offices ($5.6 million); Auditor-Controller ($4.5 million); Probation ($4.3 million); Agriculture Commissioner ($4 million); District Attorney ($2.5 million); Community Development ($2 million); Assessor ($1.4 million); Library ($1.5 million) Clerk-Recorder ($989,000); County Counsel ($589,000); Child Support Services ($428,000); Treasurer-Tax Collector ($427,000) and Cooperative Extension (386,000).
The 2021 recommended budget adds a number of new positions in Health and Human Services due to increased state funding for continuing pandemic related projects, including a nursing supervisor, two public health nurses, one health program specialist, one public health assistant, and two vocational assistants.
The budget includes the purchase or lease of a number of new vehicles, funds to purchase an adult residential facility (Behavioral Health); increased payment for Sites Reservoir Project; and increased funding for anticipated new jail construction.
For the first time, Colusa County has eliminated a paper budget document and now utilizes ” OpenGov” budgeting software to create an online budget book. In addition to various countrywide overview documents, each department has its own homepage which contains complete budget information. There is also an interactive chart that can be drilled into for specific data elements.
The 2021-22 recommended budget in its entirety is accessible from the countys home page, located at countyofcolusa.org. –