San Benito supervisors rescind layoff notices, form budget review team after public outcry

The San Benito County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to rescind layoff notices the county sent to employees and approved creating a budget management team to dig into contested numbers in the draft 2025-26 budget.

The action came after more than two hours of public comment and department testimony at a special meeting where county department heads, union representatives and residents said they had received little advance notice of proposed layoffs and lacked the detailed financial data needed to evaluate the draft budget.

Why this matters: County leaders and department heads said the draft budget contains unexplained increases and inconsistent baseline figures that risked producing large staffing cuts if the board adopted the document without detailed review. Department heads, labor leaders and the sheriff told supervisors the layoff notices issued the previous week caused alarm and appeared premature given unresolved questions about revenue, expenditures and accounting entries.

Board action and next steps - Rescind layoff notices: The board adopted a motion to rescind the proposed layoff notices and to readvertise the public hearing on the budget for June 9 (vote…