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County manager outlines homelessness, behavioral health and budget priorities
Summary
County Manager Eric Brown reviewed 2024 accomplishments and 2025 priorities for Washoe County, highlighting shelter openings, a 50-unit permanent supportive housing project funded by state ARPA dollars, behavioral health facility conversion plans and fiscal caution tied to projected revenue headwinds.
County Manager Eric Brown on Thursday gave the South Valleys Citizens Advisory Board an annual update on Washoe County’s accomplishments and priorities, saying staff will focus this year on finishing multi‑year projects rather than adding new programs.
The review outlined steps the county has taken on homelessness, behavioral health and fiscal management after a strategic plan workshop in late January. Brown said the county “has a structurally balanced budget today” and noted a recent upgrade to the county’s sales‑tax bond rating.
Why it matters: Commissioners directed staff to prioritize senior services, mental health and infrastructure; the county faces projected revenue headwinds in years three through five of its five‑year forecast and is preparing contingencies.
Brown described shelter and housing work as a multi‑year effort. The county completed construction on the CARES campus and renewed contracts with shelter providers for the CARES campus, SafeCamp and Our Place. Brown said the county secured $20,000,000 in state ARPA funds for an affordable housing project on the CARES campus that will add 50 units of permanent supportive housing and is scheduled to come on line in April.
On behavioral health, Brown said the county hired Julia Ratti as behavioral health administrator and received $14,500,000 from the state interim finance committee to rehabilitate the vacant West Hills facility for youth and subacute adult behavioral health services. He described a newly opened sequential‑intercept program in the jail — a wing dedicated to treatment and reentry — and said early results are “outstanding.”
Brown also described other items of county business: distribution of roughly $4.5 million in opioid abatement funds in 2024 and the appointment of an opioid coordinator; ongoing work to publish county spending data (a Washoe “Checkbook” tool, akin to the state treasurer’s Open Checkbook); and steps to replace and modernize election systems, including new voting equipment and a new registrar of voters candidate to the Board of County Commissioners agenda.
Brown said staff will not propose broad new hiring this budget season; instead, departments were asked to complete and optimize existing initiatives and preserve employee positions as the county plans for possible reductions in consolidated tax revenues.
He described regional public‑safety technology projects that remain priorities, including the regional computer‑aided dispatch (CAD) system planned for completion this fall and lawyer/attorney work to update CAB ordinances and boundaries. Brown said emergency evacuation plans will be updated in 2025 and noted ongoing public‑private discussions about using county land for affordable housing and courthouse redevelopment.
Brown took questions from attendees about homelessness counts, ARPA oversight and the CARES campus; he said federal and state grant rules require oversight and annual reporting on outcomes. He also addressed concerns about sample ballots and elections administration raised later in the meeting, apologizing for an error on a sample ballot that affected a local candidate and describing steps to strengthen registrar staffing and review processes.
The county manager closed by inviting further questions and said staff will return with updates as projects proceed.
