Board OKs adjustments to budget to ‘clean up’ leftover expenses

RIVERSIDE (CNS) – The Board of Supervisors approved budget adjustments totaling $22.2 million to cover expenses borne by Riverside County agencies that spilled over from the previous fiscal year.

In a 5-0 vote without comment on Tuesday, the board signed off on the obligations, as requested by the Executive Office.

In June, the board approved an $8.61 billion budget for county government in the current fiscal year. However, some costs from 2022-23 were not yet factored into appropriations, and a review of the previous year's outlays indicated there were over-hanging expenditures that required attention.

“The unresolved year-end adjustments are submitted by departments for board approval in order to ensure a balanced budget within the budgetary unit before the fiscal year is closed,” according to an Executive Office statement.

Most of the spill-over IOUs will be pared down by accounts other than the General Fund, though roughly $2.4 million will have to be extracted from it, officials said.

The “Year-End Cleanup Budget Report” showed a required reduction in the county's principal contingency account to meet some of the expenses, drawing it down from $20 million to $6.24 million.

The projection at the beginning of 2023-24 was for reserve funds to reach $555 million by the end of the fiscal year, compared to an estimated $537 million reserve pool at the close of the last one in June. The Executive Office told City News Service the latest round of expenses will not impact that projection.

The budget remains structurally balanced, officials said.

County CEO Jeff Van Wagenen said in June the current budget “creates the opportunity to enhance the efforts of our departments providing vital programs for our constituents countywide.”

The 2023-24 budget is roughly 15% larger than 2022-23's.