County social services outlines 2025–26 budget priorities; supervisors press for efficiency and senior nutrition details

Santa Clara County’s Social Services Agency on April 24 presented budget proposals for fiscal year 2025–26 to the County’s Children, Seniors and Families Committee, describing staff priorities to preserve mandated services while responding to funding reductions and caseload changes.

Why it matters: The SSA’s programs — including Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS), Department of Aging and Adult Services (DAAS), Department of Employment and Benefits Services (DEBS) and veterans services — are largely funded through federal and state streams whose timing and program rules affect county budgets and service continuity.

What SSA presented - Staffing and mandates: Sarah Duffy, Deputy Director of SSA, told the committee the budget seeks to maintain social worker staffing levels in DFCS to ensure mandated child‑welfare assessments and family‑centered case management. The budget includes overtime funding in DEBS to handle increased enrollment work in CalFresh and Medi‑Cal. - Senior nutrition: Proposal language includes funding to sustain senior nutrition program service levels; SSA said rising demand and vendor contract costs (food and vendor delivery) are driving the request. - Family First and system improvement: The proposal supports continued implementation of Family First Prevention Services Act programming and resources for the System Improvement Bureau to address items from the Child Welfare System Improvement Plan and State Corrective Action Plan. - Veterans: SSA proposes ongoing funding for veterans outreach, a veterans affairs grant, suicide prevention outreach and to support the county’s Veterans Stand Down event, which SSA said has grown annually.

Supervisors’ questions and budget process issues Supervisors asked for more detail about specific reductions, how the county will balance preserving services while trimming costs, and the timing of state and federal budget decisions. - Timing: SSA and the County Executive’s Office explained that state and federal budget cycles do not align with the county fiscal year and that a revised county submission is possible after the governor’s May revise and later federal developments. - Contracted services and vendor efficiency: Supervisors pressed SSA to analyze vendor contracts for underutilization and to identify where services could be consolidated or better aligned with demand. - Senior nutrition and culturally appropriate meals: Supervisors asked SSA to provide a breakdown of senior nutrition vendors, service productivity and options to preserve culturally appropriate menus while controlling costs.

Committee action The committee voted to receive the budget proposals and directed staff to provide more detailed program‑level information in future briefings.

Notable clarifications SSA said that while some reductions are proposed, many reductions stem from state funding changes. Department staff emphasized they sought to avoid significant reductions to direct DFCS and DEBS service staffing.

Next steps Supervisors requested quarterly briefings and more detailed fiscal breakdowns for programs with high public salience (senior nutrition, veterans outreach and DFCS contracted services). County fiscal staff said they will return with program‑level detail and that final county budget decisions will be updated to reflect the governor’s May revise and any federal actions.