Monterey County budget workshop highlights large department augmentation requests and board direction to protect frontline positions

Monterey County officials on March 25 presented a preliminary budget outlook showing repeated multi‑year shortfalls and a wide array of department augmentation requests that together dwarf the county’s remaining ongoing discretionary resources.

Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Debbie Polanelli led the presentation. Departments submitted roughly $121 million in augmentation requests for fiscal 2025–26, she said; the largest categories were capital projects and status‑quo requests for salaries, vacant positions and services. Polinelli reminded the board that budget forecasting shows a multi‑year structural shortfall: the county’s forecast indicated an estimated $43 million shortfall in the first year shown in the forecast, roughly $24 million the following year and about $26 million in the third year (estimates presented by staff as part of the department forecast). She said the county could use one‑time sources to ease near‑term pressures but warned that ongoing expenses funded with one‑time money would reappear in future years.

Departments outlined high‑priority needs during hour‑long presentations. Examples discussed publicly during the workshop included:

- Social Services: Director Roderick Franks requested five augmentations and said the department’s baseline requested budget is roughly $367.7 million. He highlighted a top request of $1.5 million to cover rising out‑of‑home placement costs for county‑dependent children; a separate general assistance shortfall and requests to restore certain vacant positions were discussed. Franks said about 50% of departmental revenue comes from state and federal sources and that the department’s general‑fund contribution had remained about 6% of its budget.

- Health Department: Director (presentation) requested a $347,832 general‑fund augmentation largely to support Hitchcock Road animal services and a limited environmental health overtime budget to inspect pop‑up food operators. The health department said most of its funding comes from non‑general‑fund sources and that general‑fund support is under 5% of its budget.

- Public Works / Capital Projects: John Snively presented the draft Capital Improvement Plan and a list of unfunded projects, including deferred‑maintenance needs at county facilities, library projects (Pajaro/Bradley) and an array of roof, HVAC and parks maintenance programs. Snively said committee recommendations flagged roughly $31 million of near‑term requests and identified hundreds of millions of dollars in multi‑year needs. Board members and department leaders discussed how Measure AA, road funds and existing capital reserves might be used to stage work such as road resurfacing and library repairs.

- Information Technology and ERP: CIO Eric Chatham listed staff restorations and capital requests including an estimated $2.5 million projected overrun for the county’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) rollout; he also outlined replacement cycles for network, server and radio‑site equipment. Chatham said the ERP schedule change and overlapping licensing had created the projected overrun.

- Sheriff’s Office: The sheriff presented a status‑quo augmentation request totaling about $20.48 million to preserve occupied positions, cover projected contract increases for jail medical services and to reduce dangerously high overtime. The department and the Board discussed the Hernandez jail compliance obligations, projected increases in jail health costs (an estimate presented during the workshop was $7.1 million for jail health in 2025–26), and the relationship between hiring, training time and near‑term overtime. Sheriff’s staff also presented a longer list of program expansion options should additional funding be available.

- Emergency Management: Director Kelsey Scanlon asked for ongoing and one‑time resources (the package presented totaled about $1.7 million, roughly $700,000 ongoing) to keep grant administration current, support alert‑and‑warning maintenance and sustain training and exercise capacity. Scanlon emphasized the county’s grant backlog and the need for dedicated grant management to secure FEMA public‑assistance reimbursements and to manage Assembly Bill 102 funds intended for Pajaro recovery.

Board direction and next steps

After several hours of presentations and public comment, supervisors gave staff clear direction: preserve occupied field positions. Board members signaled unanimous support for prioritizing funding that keeps frontline, filled positions (public‑safety deputies, dispatchers, park rangers, social‑services case‑carrying roles, county custodial/operations staff and others) from being cut. County staff noted the combined cost to preserve the occupied field positions presented in the workshop ran in the low‑millions (a workshop summary figure of roughly $8.7 million was used on screen to illustrate the aggregate cost of the occupied field positions listed by departments), and staff agreed to return with options showing how those positions could be preserved under different funding scenarios.

Supervisors asked staff to come back with a clearer inventory of one‑time funds that could be used for high‑priority needs (police and jail technology, library repairs, certain capital projects), and to provide costed options (for example: preserve the occupied positions now using one‑time funds vs. adopt a smaller package that protects essential public‑safety and senior‑services positions). Several supervisors asked specifically for a closer review of the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) list and for the county administrative office to run scenarios that show the impact to the structural deficit of using one‑time versus ongoing revenue.

Public comment and notable figures

Members of the public urged preservation of local services (libraries, parks, law enforcement, animal services) and argued for both fiscal restraint and targeted investments to protect vulnerable residents. Notable numbers presented during the workshop included a departmental augmentations total of approximately $121 million, a county forecast showing a roughly $43 million projected shortfall in the first forecast year with subsequent multi‑year gaps, and department‑level asks that included the sheriff’s roughly $20.48 million status‑quo package, an IT ERP overrun estimate of $2.5 million, and Social Services’ $1.5 million child‑placement request. Health department general‑fund ask was presented as $347,832.

What the board will do next

Staff will produce a prioritized set of budget options and tradeoffs for the board to consider for the May budget hearings. The administration will return with scenarios showing how to preserve occupied field positions consistent with board direction and how a combination of one‑time reserves and realignments would affect the structural gap in later years. Supervisors signaled they want itemized alternatives rather than immediate cuts to filled frontline positions.