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Madera County GSA previews $13 million in grant-funded projects; admin fee remains unchanged
Summary
Staff presented a draft FY 2025–26 budget preview showing approximately $13 million in anticipated state grant revenue, an unchanged GSA administrative fee of $2.8 million and projected expenditures for professional services, multi-benefit land repurposing, and recharge projects; staff and commenters requested more frequent budget updates.
Staff presented a preview of the GSA's draft budget for the upcoming fiscal year and said the agency expects roughly $13 million in state grant funding, $2.8 million from the GSA administrative fee and smaller amounts from staff reimbursements and penalties.
The staff presentation broke revenue into four categories: state grants (largest source), the GSA admin fee, staff-time reimbursements from other county accounts and penalties. Staff described four anticipated state grants including multi-benefit land repurposing (payments to growers for retiring irrigated land or converting to recharge/solar/pollinator habitat) and three separate recharge grants that will fund construction for turnouts and recharge facilities. Staff said the proposed budget anticipates construction-related costs for Prop 68 recharge projects that will go to bid next year.
On the expenditure side, staff grouped costs into professional services (demand-management measurement contracts such as satellite ET services and Land IQ/EarWatch, monitoring-well visits, annual-report work), technical services (finance, recharge, land repurposing, legal) and project costs. Staff pointed out the GSA has been successful obtaining grant funds and that the projected grants exceed the admin fee by roughly 2-to-1. Staff also said roughly 25 percent of staff time was reimbursed by grants in the prior year.
Public commenters and committee members praised staff grants work and requested clearer, regular budget reporting. One commenter suggested providing the budget in the same breakout used in the previous financial report to show growers how much is spent on measurement, legal, monitoring and other subcategories. Another commenter suggested a short monthly budget update at committee meetings to inform decision-making.
Staff said they would consult finance staff about providing more frequent updates and about clarifying subcategory numbers in the packet.
