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Monterey County board accepts year-end budget report; designates funds to reserves, solar and sheriff equipment
Summary
The Board of Supervisors accepted the fiscal year 2023–24 budget end-of-year report and approved recommendations to use assigned and unassigned fund balances for capital projects, solar energy investments and sheriff body‑worn camera subscription costs; vote recorded 4-0.
The Monterey County Board of Supervisors accepted the fiscal year 2023–24 budget end‑of‑year report Dec. 4 and approved staff recommendations to assign portions of fund balance to several priorities, including capital projects, strategic reserve replenishment, and ongoing costs for a sheriff’s subscription contract.
Assistant County Administrative Officer Ezekiel Vega told the board the county began the year with an unassigned general fund balance of about $27.4 million and closed the year with an assigned/unassigned total of approximately $33.4 million. After prior board commitments and recent actions the unassigned fund balance was estimated at about $400,000. Vega outlined a series of recommended assignments to fund prioritized capital projects, a sheriff’s equipment contract, solar projects and to replenish the county’s strategic reserve.
Vega described the recommendations in detail and noted the county will designate $10 million from unassigned fund balance to replenish the strategic reserve, bringing the reserve closer to the county policy target. He also said staff recommended assigning $1.4 million to the sheriff’s Axon body‑worn camera subscription and replacement schedule and increasing the solar project assignment to $8.8 million after negotiations reduced overall project costs.
“As you recall yesterday, there was an action that you took regarding some solar projects…that specific action modified the recommendations that were made during the budget end of year report,” Vega said during the presentation.
Board members questioned staff about timing and revenue assumptions. Supervisors raised the county’s exposure to ongoing labor costs and pension liabilities, the schedule for FEMA reimbursements related to past disasters and the sunset of one‑time ARPA revenues. Vega told the board the county anticipates continued revenue growth but cautioned that growth has not matched expenditure increases and that pension unfunded liabilities remain significant.
Supervisors also discussed Measure AA (a county tax measure for unincorporated areas) that had been certified and was expected to begin generating approximately $29 million annually for unincorporated‑area projects; staff noted the county expected to see an initial inflow in the current fiscal year once state contracting and collection mechanisms are in place.
Following public comment and discussion the board approved the report and the recommended assignments. The motion passed 4-0, with one supervisor absent for the meeting. The approval included direction to fund specified capital projects, continue replenishing the strategic reserve and to retain assigned funds to mitigate the next fiscal year’s expected higher labor costs.
Staff noted that items requiring formal budget amendments would require a four‑fifths vote; staff also told the board they would return with further detail and with follow‑up items as agreements and funding flows (for example, federal rebates on solar projects and Measure AA revenues) were finalized.
The budget action does not itself appropriate all listed assignment funds for immediate contract awards; several assignments are intended to hold one‑time funds in reserve pending project implementation, contract execution or reimbursement timing.
