Sonoma County adopts cautious FY2025–26 budget; board ties permanent narcotics unit funding to property tax outcome

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday adopted the recommended FY2025–26 budget after a day of public comment, staff presentations and deliberations about rising fiscal uncertainty at the state and federal levels.

County Executive Rivera framed the hearings by saying the county faces "the greatest moment of fiscal uncertainty since the Great Recession," driven by slower revenues and potential changes to federal funding rules. "The number one is that our revenues have slowed down," Rivera told the board, urging a conservative, baseline budget that preserves options if state or federal funding is curtailed.

The adopted package is a status-quo recommendation intended to maintain core services while preserving reserves. Budget staff told the board the county's recommended budget totals roughly $2.71 billion, with intergovernmental revenues and taxes making up the largest shares. Amanda Rook, assistant auditor-controller, flagged a particular federal risk: proposed changes to FEMA eligibility and audit practices that could raise the threshold for disaster declarations and increase clawback risk on reimbursements.

Public commenters urged expanded support for seniors and immigrants, and warned nonprofits could face cash-flow crises if contracts are not reimbursed timely. Bonnie Petty, chair of the Sonoma County chapter of the California Alliance for Retired Americans, said retirees had gone without an annual COLA for two decades and asked the board to "fix this now" by writing a COLA into contracts. Several immigrant-serving organizations asked the board to raise the proposed $500,000 community funding pilot to $1 million to shore up legal services and language access for residents navigating immigration proceedings.

Board members questioned staff on several specific areas: the county's reliance on federal and state funds, the status of ARPA dollars, the county's FEMA audit reserve, and rising insurance and liability premiums. Nick Klein, the county's principal analyst, said positions reductions and time-limited staffing changes were included in the recommended budget and that some departments proposed add-back requests totaling roughly $6.7 million, which county leadership recommended restoring to preserve service levels.

A contentious budget matter during deliberations involved the Sheriff's narcotics unit. The unit was initially funded with one-time dollars; the Sheriff's office asked for permanent funding so services would not lapse. The board debated options and directed staff to craft a resolution amendment. The final language added to the adopted resolution states that the narcotics unit's current one-time funding "will be replaced with a permanent general fund allocation" if the final 2025 property tax roll closes with more than $3,300,000 of additional revenue above the amount programmed in the adopted FY2025–26 budget. The resolution also specifies that associated time-limited positions will be made permanent in a future consolidated budget adjustment.

Supervisors also directed staff to return with a policy and staffing plan for the county's satellite offices, which the county administrator said would include a review of pilot sites, costs and sustainability options.

Votes at a glance: - FY2025–26 concurrent resolution adopting the recommended budget and position allocations: Adopted in roll-call vote. Two supervisors recorded exceptions on one supplemental adjustment (CAP-1 Brickway Boulevard improvements): Supervisor Rabbit announced an abstention on that supplemental item; Supervisor Corsi voted no on that supplemental. The overall budget and accompanying direction were adopted.

What happens next: staff will implement the adopted budget and return to the board with specified follow-ups: (1) a July item on whether to pay community-based organizations on current-year contracts pending board action; (2) a plan to operationalize the narcotics-unit funding contingency if property-tax receipts exceed the stated threshold; and (3) a policy item on satellite offices and a refreshed five-year capital plan.

The board closed the hearing after a brief recess and a final roll-call vote.

Sources: public comments and staff presentations at the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors budget hearing, June 2025. Direct quotes in this report come from remarks by County Executive Rivera, Amanda Rook, county administrators and several public commenters whose names are recorded in the hearing transcript.