LAKE COUNTY –The Lake County Board of Supervisors (BOS) adopted the 2011-12 county budget following a daylong public hearing Wednesday at the Lake County Courthouse.
The BOS voted unanimously in favor of a resolution adopting the budget, which calls for $186,069,076 in appropriations, a decrease of more than $3.6 million compared to last fiscal year”s budget.
County staff presented a “responsible, sustainable” recommended budget for BOS consideration Wednesday, County Administrator Kelly Cox said.
The recommended budget achieved staff”s goals of minimizing or avoiding negative impacts on public services, preserving the county”s general reserve and avoiding negative impacts to employees such as furloughs and large numbers of layoffs, Cox told the BOS.
The BOS heard from department heads and representatives throughout Wednesday”s hearing, considering the budget units recommended for each county department, and unanimously passed all but one recommended department appropriation.
District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington asked that a single item be pulled from the Capital Projects budget unit. The item concerned whether to allocate $995,000 for the possible acquisition of the Gard Street School property in Kelseyville.
The acquisition could allow one or several county agencies to relocate to the school property, and though county staff has begun analyzing the feasibility of such a purchase, a decision is far from final, Cox said, adding that the appropriation would simply put the money in place should the BOS approve the acquisition at a later time.
Farrington said he didn”t think the acquisition would be in the county”s interest and that staff shouldn”t spend time looking into the possibility. “I”m never going to support this,” he said.
The BOS voted 4-1 to approve the $995,000 appropriation. Farrington dissented.
“Just because we”ve approved the budget today doesn”t mean we”ve approved the project,” District 2 Supervisor Jeff Smith said.
The BOS then voted unanimously to approve the remaining recommended appropriations for the Capital Projects unit.
The Social Services Department budget accounted for approximately 22 percent of the total appropriations. The criminal justice system came in second at 20 percent followed by Special Districts and Public Works (which included Water Resources), each at roughly 13 percent.
Employee salaries and benefits accounted for about $65.4 million of the $186 million-plus in appropriations. Services and supplies closely followed at nearly $63.2 million.
The county General Fund appropriation is a little more than $52 million. The General Fund remains debt free, Cox told the BOS.
The budget estimates nearly $153 million in revenues for the year. The state would contribute the highest percentage of those revenues. Other significant revenue sources would be taxes and the federal government.
County fund balances and reserves will provide a little more than $33 million in funding.
The budget includes more than $1 million for the Lakeport South Main Street/Soda Bay Road improvement project, approximately $1.3 million in set-aside funds for Clear Lake protection and management, $350,000 for a Sheriff”s Office substation in the south county and more than $1.2 million for the Clearlake Oaks Senior Center project.
The BOS also adopted a resolution establishing position allocations and classifications, thereby approving the 903 permanent positions in the budget. Several vacant or soon-to-be-vacant positions were either unfunded or eliminated in the budget.
The entire budget document can be viewed at the County Administrator”s Office at the courthouse. An online version will soon be accessible on the county”s website, Cox said.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
