Madera County adopts $578.4 million budget, leaves slim reserve and flags $4M LATCF as contingency

The Madera County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 on June 9 to adopt the county'wide fiscal year 2025-26 budgets, approving a proposed operating budget of $578,436,287 and a package that includes general, special revenue and special districts budgets.

County Chief Administrative Officer Jay Varney and County Administrative Office staff presented the proposal, which reflects an overall increase of just over $47 million across all funds and projects county revenues just above $108 million for the year.

The adopted plan reduces the number of funded positions to 11,754.75, a net decrease of 22.25 positions from the prior year; administration said 41 positions were unfunded to meet net county cost targets and that the unfunded positions are currently vacant. The budget continues a long-standing allocation of discretionary funds to public safety; staff reported 73% of discretionary spending is dedicated to public protection.

Why it matters: supervisors and staff said the county is close to fiscal balance but still faces a small operating deficit and a near-depleted reserve. The county'wide fund balance reserve would fall to an estimated $319,000 at year-end under current projections, and staff identified roughly $4 million in Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Funding (LATCF) from the American Rescue Plan Act as a flexible source the board could use to plug…