County reports $380 million in department‑managed trust and special accounts; staff to return with policy recommendations

The Executive Office presented a status update on Phase 3 of the county’s financial rebalancing effort on June 2, reporting an inventory of 789 department‑managed trust and special accounts with aggregate balances of roughly $380 million (as of Jan. 22). Staff said the inventory prioritized accounts that could have discretionary or board‑directable uses and identified next steps for 257 accounts totaling about $314 million; the remaining 532 accounts (about $6 million) will be reviewed in the next cycle.

Staff explained categories of accounts — legally restricted/formula based (approx. $182 million), operationally constrained or reserves (approx. $64 million), program‑specific (approx. $36 million), grant/one‑time funding (approx. $39 million), and internal/proprietary or liability balances (approx. $59 million). Staff recommended receiving the status update, approving a limited set of administrative cleanup actions amounting to about $19,000 and returning with more detailed account‑specific and policy recommendations within about 12 months.

Staff emphasized that a large portion of the $380 million is not generally available for board discretion because of legal or program restrictions, and that additional legal, accounting and departmental validation is ongoing. The board asked for continued transparency and for a policy framework to guide when trust accounts are created, maintained, reported, reviewed and closed. Supervisors moved and passed the recommended direction.