If Humboldt County continues spending at its current rate, the General Fund will contain nothing but wind and tumbleweeds by the end of fiscal year 2025-26.
The shadow of impending budget cuts loomed over a Humboldt County Board of Supervisors budgetary update on Monday. At the current spending rate, budget cuts could reach a 20% cut from the General Fund to staffing and services countywide, said Humboldt County Deputy Administrative Officer Jessica Maciel.
“Budget cuts at this level are not attainable without reductions in staffing and services. We reviewed this projection with departments in their budget meetings and all departments expressed that this scenario would be devastating to their ability to deliver services,” Maciel said.
Maciel added that, given the deficit’s size, the county is unlikely to find a revenue source that could bail the county out of its current fiscal predicament, meaning the most viable option currently is reducing spending via staffing reductions. However, even if the county reduces staffing via attrition, it would still likely come alongside a reduction in county services. What exact services would be cut remains unclear.
This fiscal year, 2023-24 ending this June, the county faces a fiscal deficit of $12.4 million, and several previous meetings including the board grappling with – and ultimately approving – hiring freeze exceptions to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, though outside sources already funded some positions.
The county will also explore reorganization – changing the structure of departments to reduce overall staffing – as a potential salve, and county staff will present the option to the board on June 3. In the coming weeks, department heads across the county will give the board an overview of their staffing and financial needs.
“Everyone’s feeling really like they’re already doing more with less and so I’ll just say it was really difficult to propose this level of cuts, but the math doesn’t lie,” Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo said. “The money we have in our account is what we have and so I think we need to be considering every single expenditure and through that lens moving forward.”
The board approved a voluntary furlough program and hiring freeze in fiscal year 2023-24, which Maciel said saves the county money, but not enough to avoid the cliff’s edge by the start of 2026-27.
Jackson Guilfoil can be reached at 707-441-0506.
