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County finance and treasurer provide budget and system updates; treasurer seeks three new positions, announces bank migration
Summary
Santa Cruz County finance and treasurer officials reported cash balances, announced a postponed treasurer-system rollout, a staged bank transition to PNC, a request for three new treasurer positions to strengthen segregation of duties, and introduced a new assistant finance director.
Santa Cruz County finance and treasury staff updated the Board of Supervisors on April 1 about fund balances, an upcoming technology transition, an incremental bank migration and a personnel request to strengthen internal controls.
Finance Director Marisa Chavez reported the county’s general fund balance at $21,405,775, an investment amount of $16,098,142, and a total for all funds of $65,423,693 with an investment amount of $21,740,000. She also announced the appointment of Maria Martinez as assistant finance director; Martinez has worked in the finance department for 11 years and will take a lead role on the current audit and budget workload.
Treasurer Alejandro Paz told the board he postponed a planned over-the-counter treasury system rollout to March 2026 to allow vendor stabilization and to let two other counties implement first. “We cannot afford any more issues or ... trash information going to another system,” Paz said, and he framed the delay as a quality-control step.
Paz also described a phased migration of county banking functions to a new PNC account: “We’ve started initiating some of the deposits coming into our new PNC bank account, and some still go to Chase. But slowly, we’ll be switching everything over,” he said. The move will be executed incrementally (deposits first, then credit cards, payroll and warrants) and tested per entity to reduce risk.
To strengthen checks and balances in the treasurer’s office, Paz said he will request three new full-time equivalent positions — described as management roles covering customer support, a banking division and a back-tax division — and said the roles are intended to segregate duties so the same person cannot both issue and reconcile checks.
Paz also expressed frustration at what he described as a delayed sentencing in a criminal case involving the former county treasurer and encouraged public impact statements; he called for continuing pressure to resolve that matter quickly. No sentencing or prosecutorial decisions were made at the board meeting.
What it means: The finance updates include a large, countywide view of fund balances, a delayed IT rollout to reduce migration risk, an ongoing bank transition, and a forthcoming budget request to add staff intended to reduce operational risk in the treasurer’s office. Maria Martinez’s appointment was announced to help with audit and budget workload; no formal board vote on the hire was recorded in the meeting transcript.
