Yuba County may need sales tax boost for public safety
Yuba County will have roughly $28.5 million in its general fund that can be used for any appropriate governmental uses. That number has been slowly growing since 2013-14, though it doesn’t quite match pre-recession levels, which was up to about $34 million.
“That’s great to look at, to see that the general fund is getting healthier,” Bendorf said. “However, the caveat with that, unfortunately, is the cost of doing business increases. They are not increasing at the same levels revenues are, they are far exceeding them.”
Bendorf said the most significant cost increases have to do with increased CalPERS (retirement fund) premiums and increases in pensions. He said costs have almost doubled since 2006. Pensions have also been steadily increasing, and estimates don’t show it leveling off until at least another four years, he said.
Of the county’s general fund, public protection receives the lion’s share, or about 72 percent. Public protection covers things like the sheriff’s office, jail, juvenile hall, probation department and district attorney’s office, among other things.
Bendorf said the amount of money necessary to fund public protection poses a challenge for the county and the board. He said more funding is needed than is currently being generated.
“With revenue estimates like this, and what actuals are coming in at, it is not enough to sustain that,” Bendorf said. “I will mention to your board again that there has to be another revenue source to support public protection. The alternative to that is to take revenue, roughly $6 million, that is appropriated to other departments and shift it over, but we have mandates there and that’s the challenging part.”
Bendorf said his department and other public safety departments have discussed whether increasing the sales tax would help at all, but they have not decided if that’s the best option to present to the board yet.
The next biggest expenditure is for general government at about 22 percent of the general fund budget. Those expenditures pay for things like the board of supervisors, county library, human resources, assessor’s office and administrative services, among other things.
Supervisors scheduled budget workshops for Aug. 15-16. Following the August workshops, the board will hold public hearings in September to discuss the adoption of the county’s final budget. Marysville office, 1530 Ellis Lake Drive Business hours: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
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