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County publishes inventory of trust and special accounts totaling about $380 million; board directs targeted cleanup
Summary
Staff reported an inventory of 789 department-managed trust and special accounts totaling about $380 million and recommended limited administrative cleanup actions and a 12-month review plan and policy framework; the board directed staff to proceed and approved targeted items.
The Executive Office and Auditor-Controller presented a status update on a countywide review of department-managed trust and special accounts.
Zachary Lute of the Executive Office and James Hamilton, auditor-controller, told the board Phase 3 of the review covers 789 account records totaling roughly $380 million as of Jan. 22. Staff categorized balances as legally restricted (~$182M), operationally constrained (~$64M), program-specific (~$36M), grant/one-time (~$39M), and internal/fiduciary (~$59M). Staff emphasized the majority of the funds are not broadly available for general county use.
The FY 2026-27 recommended budget already recognizes about $68.7M from inventory-related sources, including recognizing $25.9M in one-time medical reimbursement revenues and $42.8M in TETR-related sources for ERP and other purposes. The staff recommended limited administrative cleanup totaling about $19,000 and returning with a proposal to allocate about $2.4M to an internal-financing designation at final budget.
The board approved the staff's recommended directions to proceed with review, targeted administrative cleanups, and development of a policy framework for account creation, maintenance, reporting and closure, with staff returning in 12 months with account-specific recommendations.
Next steps: staff will continue detailed account-level review, finalize recommended policy standards, and return to the board with account-specific proposals and a policy framework within 12 months.
