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Alameda County staff outline $91.4 million funding gap and steps to present a balanced budget
Summary
County staff told the Board of Supervisors the county faces a roughly $91.4 million structural gap for FY26-27 and described a mix of one-time and ongoing strategies—including vacancy reviews, program adjustments and continued reliance on retirement savings—to present a balanced proposed budget on May 28. Supervisors pressed staff on food-security and Medi-Cal impacts.
County staff on Thursday told the Alameda County Board of Supervisors that the county has identified a $91.4 million funding gap in its developing fiscal-year 2026-27 maintenance-of-effort budget, and outlined steps they will take to present a balanced proposed budget by May 28.
The county's all-funds budget is roughly $6.1 billion, with general-fund appropriations totaling about $4.3 billion and a workforce of nearly 10,500 full-time equivalents, county staff said. "We closed a funding gap of $105,700,000 for the current year with a combination of one-time and ongoing strategies," county staff noted during the presentation, adding that one-time measures used this year become the starting point of next year's shortfall.
The presentation, led by county budget staff and Amy Shrago of the county administrator's office, listed major drivers of the gap: salary-and-benefit adjustments, increased costs for building and vehicle maintenance, radio replacements for emergency communications, and other program net-cost changes. Staff said the county is pursuing a combination of revenue reviews, program-budget adjustments, vacancy reviews and efficiency measures.
"Bottom line is we want to continue to reduce our reliance on one-time strategies so that we are addressing the structural funding gap," county staff said.
Staff also framed the budget outlook against state and federal changes. Amy Shrago summarized the governor's May revision and federal activity, saying the May revise projects higher-than-expected reserves statewide but contains "no new major spending commitments" for counties to offset changes stemming from HR 1 and Proposition 1—state-level policy shifts county leaders said could increase demand for local services.
Supervisors used the presentation to press staff on local priorities and short-term impacts. Several board members asked whether food-security and community clinic support in the presentation would be sufficient as state changes reduce Medi-Cal reimbursements and federal safety-net support; staff cited existing Measure W allocations and proposed county strategies to help bridge gaps but recommended continued monitoring and flexibility.
The county said it has identified $40.2 million of potential additional revenue and about $55 million of savings (including net retirement savings and other measures) toward closing the projected gap, and will continue working with department heads and labor through the budget-development week.
Next steps: staff will deliver a balanced proposed budget to the board on May 28, open formal budget hearings June 18 and continue deliberations the week of June 22. The board did not take final action during the work session.
Sources: county staff presentation and oral remarks during the Board of Supervisors work session. The board paused for public comment and will consider final budget adoption later in the official budget process.
