2025-2026 Budget Hearings

Glenn Church
Jun 9
3 min read

Dear Friends & Neighbors,

The County of Monterey’s budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year is $2.3 billion. With that amount, it would seem that many of the county’s problems could be solved by throwing a few dollars at them. Unfortunately, the Board of Supervisors has discretionary control over just a small part.

A big part of the $2.3 billion belongs to Natividad Medical Center. The County of Monterey is one of the few counties left in the state that retains a county hospital. The medical center funds itself and is not subsidized by county tax dollars. Natividad has an estimated budget of over $531 million for the next year. State and federal programs provide the County with hundreds of millions more that the County must use for specifically designated programs, such as public health, behavioral health, social programs for children, elderly and those needing basic services.

Over the last few decades, the state and federal governments are increasingly using local governments as administrative arms for their programs. This is particularly so for counties. Many of these programs are unfunded. That requires counties to take their own General Fund revenue and pay for programs that the counties never approved or sought.

Of course, there are existing departments that need their funding to continue from last year. A few examples in this year’s recommended budget were the Sheriff $164 million, Probation $76.6 million, Agriculture Commissioner $14.7 million and Libraries $14.4 million.

The County of Monterey has had a hiring freeze since last fall, with exceptions for critical positions. Even with that, there was more than a $43 million shortfall budgeted for this year. In April, the Board of Supervisors directed that the discretionary revenue available should be used to preserve currently filled jobs. With difficulty and using one-time funds, that goal was achieved. That left only a few million for the Board to decide on how to spend during last week’s budget hearings. The Board allocated the remaining funds for positions and programs. Those included, but are not limited to, additional deputies, park rangers, deputy district attorneys, social workers; and funding for the Elections Department, Health Department for food safety and Hitchcock Road Animals Services spay and neuter clinics.

Next year will be another challenge. Projections are that the County will once again be in a budget crunch and with more limited revenues as most one-time funds have been spent this year.

One bright outcome is that revenue from Measure AA, passed last year, has not yet arrived in the county. It will be allocated during the course of the year as these funds trickle in. The Board is committed to the idea that these funds will only be used for unincorporated needs and roads are one of the big priorities. Other priorities are parks, animal services, support for the Sheriff’s office, and Housing and Community Development.

Anyone can look at the County budget and recommend that less should be spent in one place and more in another. But another person might recommend the exact opposite. That makes the budget more of an exercise in compromise than advocacy. Anything that is proposed needs three votes on the Board of Supervisors to pass. Being that the County of Monterey is a large county with nearly 450,000 people, and political interests are spread over a diverse array from agriculture to farm workers, hospitality to environmentalists and business to labor, finding a consensus, especially when it comes to the budget, is often quite a challenge.

As always, don't hesitate to reach out to my office for assistance. You can reach us at 831-755-5022 or district2@countyofmonterey.gov.

Sincerely,