COLUSA COUNTY, CA (MPG) – After dealing with a significant drop in tax revenue last year, Colusa County is well on its way to operating within its current budget, save for new twists and turns in the agriculture sector.
At the Board of Supervisors mid-year review on Feb. 27, Colusa County Administrative Officer Wendy Tyler and Colusa County Agriculture Commissioner Anastacia Allen reported the local seed industry is seeing far more foreign competition that has resulted in significant downsizing or relocating operations due to worldwide influences.
“We do have significant revenue shortfalls in the ag department; about $94,000 total expected shortfalls,” Tyler said.
With Syngenta closing its Willows facility and giving its employees pink slips, the county will see a $70,000 reduction in revenue from seed certifications alone, in addition to the loss of revenue for field inspections.
“Typically, by now, we have close to between 50 and 100 applications for field walks, where we certify the seed crops for the winter seed, such as coriander and onion seed, which are produced here,” Allen said. “Currently, we have zero. Nobody is adding seed crops to their permits this year. The ($35 million) seed industry has taken a very big hit.”
Allen confirmed the county’s biggest fear during the drought that certain agriculture producers would and did find other locations to grow their crops and will not likely return.
Since the board approved a $154.4 spending plan in late September, a 12.3 increase over the county’s prior year budget, the county has received about 35 percent of its anticipated $138 million in revenue by December.
“That’s kind of where it has been in the past,” said Colusa County Chief Administrative Officer Wendy Tyler. “In 2022-23, it was at 38 percent so it is trending as we would expect.”
The budget supports 425.4 full time workers, with salaries and benefits consuming 35 percent of the total budget.
The budget includes a $42.6 million general fund, health and human services, behavioral health, and roads.
The general fund collected $14.3 million of its revenue by December, which is about 10 percent less for the same period last year, Tyler said.
Changes in the agriculture sector also include the state’s decision not to collect inspection fees in the apiary program, although the state will require the agricultural department to continue to provide services without funding.
Apiary producers will still register with the county, but no fees will be collected.
While Tyler said the loss of $100,000 in agriculture-related revenue may not seem like a significant amount in the grand scheme of things, it is important given the budget constraints the county is already facing.
On the expenditure side of the budget, increases come from rising insurance costs and the higher costs of general government services.
In some departments, including behavioral health and human services, there is simply a greater need from the public for services, Tyler said.
“And the cost to provide those services are going up,” she said.
County department heads are staying within their budget or finding innovative ways to cut costs, such as streamlining processes to work more efficiently with fewer positions.
“We know that the state budget is not in a good place this year,” Tyler said. “There are a lot of program reductions; there are a lot of reallocations taking place at the state level, which potentially impact our departments’ ability to provide services. To be clear, they are not doing away with the programs, they are just not going to fund them as they have in the past.”
Many of the programs, particularly in health and human services, will be mandated by the state to continue, regardless of whether the state fully reimburses the county for those services, Tyler added.
“For example, one of the programs where funding is expected to be reduced is this budget year child welfare services,” Tyler explained. “Does that mean we are going to reduce the number of social workers we have or reduce the caseloads we have? No. We are still going to go out and perform our job to protect the citizens and most vulnerable population in our county.”
Supervisors Kent Boes, a member of the budget ad hoc committee, said as the county moves forward to develop the next year’s budget, there may, like last year, be tough decisions that may have to be made in the future, depending on the state and federal budgets.
“Caution is a good thing while going into the next year’s budget cycle,” said Boes, who recently returned from Washington D.C. “The last I heard there is going to be some change.”
Meanwhile, county officials said they would continue to work through the county’s budget issues creatively to preserve services, while hoping to find a way to diversify the economy for the future.