Ventura County adopts $3.23 billion budget amid health‑care funding risks

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors adopted a countywide recommended budget of about $3.23 billion and a general fund appropriation of roughly $1.5 billion at a special meeting on June 16, 2025, after a multi‑hour hearing focused on health‑care financing, behavioral health changes under Proposition 1, and local hospital capacity.

County Chief Executive Officer Dr. Johnson told the board the administration and departments prepared the plan as a "cautious budget" because federal and state funding decisions remain unsettled; "this is a living document," he said. The board voted 5‑0 to approve the budget and related resolutions.

The vote came after presentations from the County Executive Office, the Healthcare Agency and its divisions, the Ventura County Medical System (VCMS), public health and behavioral health. Presenters warned that a growing share of the county hospital system's revenue now comes through state and federal supplemental programs that are paid with a long lag and that proposed changes at the state and federal level could reduce future funding or increase administrative burdens.

Brian Friedman, Budget and Finance Division, summarized the recommended budget and the revenue picture: the countywide recommended budget is approximately $3,229,000,000 (about a 6.1% increase from the prior year), with general fund appropriations just under $1.5 billion and non‑general fund appropriations of roughly $1.727 billion. Friedman highlighted that intergovernmental revenue (federal and state) and property taxes are the two largest components of general fund revenue and that both contain elements…