Board of Supervisors to Consider Hiring Freeze, Budget Adjustments for 2025-26 Fiscal Year

RIVERSIDE (CNS) - The Board of Supervisors is slated today to wrap up
hearings on the proposed 2025-26 fiscal year budget, which may include a hiring
freeze throughout Riverside County government to keep a lid on spending in the
face of an anticipated budget gap totaling almost $100 million.
  

``We're recommending a hiring freeze for all departments that receive
discretionary fund revenue,'' CEO Jeff Van Wagenen said Monday at the outset of
hearings on the appropriations plan.
  

He then noted there would be exceptions to the freeze, exempting the
Department of Public Social Services and Department of Animal Services.
  

``The freeze on the other departments ... will require them to shrink
by attrition,'' he said. ``Revenue is not decreasing across the system, but we
are seeing it flatten and go down in certain areas.''
  

The last stoppage to rein in spending occurred in 2016-17, and Van
Wagenen said that action succeeded in saving the equivalent of $40 million to
$50 million in today's dollars.
  

Unavoidable excess costs will necessitate the use of $73 million in
reserves during 2025-26. The imbalance, or budget deficit, stems from
``inflationary pressures, growing labor costs, unpredictable state and federal
funding and necessary investments in aging infrastructure (that) strain our
financial capacity,'' the CEO said in the 500-plus-page budget proposal
submitted to the board.
  

By law, a tentative spending blueprint must be in place by the start
of the new fiscal year, July 1, though formal approval of appropriations can be
deferred until September.
  

The proposed aggregate budget for 2025-26 is $9.98 billion, compared
to $9.58 billion in 2024-25. The Executive Office is forecasting a reserve pool
of $655 million. It had been projected at $728 million, but the total will have
to be pared down to fix the estimated budget gap.
  

Payrolls continue to consume almost half of outlays under the budget
plan. The county employs 25,632 people on a regular or rotating temporary
basis, figures showed.
  

Public safety agencies started off Monday's budget hearing, though the
county's top law enforcement officer, Sheriff Chad Bianco, did not appear
in person, offering a videotaped statement with the explanation that he was
attending a ceremony in Sacramento.
  

Bianco said the Executive Office's proposed appropriation for
sheriff's operations ``falls woefully short'' of what's needed. The sheriff's
department will end the current fiscal year $10 million in the red, and the
proposed ``flatline'' spending plan for 2025-26 would put the agency $76
million in the hole, according to Bianco.
  

Unlike in previous budget hearings, the sheriff on Monday pointedly
emphasized the need to make the Benoit Detention Center in Indio fully
operational. Only one-third of the facility, which was completed in the
previous decade, is functional. Undersheriff Don Sharp said about $32 million
would be required to complete a two-phase activation of the jail in the coming
fiscal year, though the dollar amounts may vary.
  

Other costs weighing on the department include ballooning labor and
pension expenses stemming from the county's agreement with the Riverside
Sheriffs' Association, the collective bargaining unit representing deputies, as
well as court security expenses, the anticipated agreement with the Law
Enforcement Management Unit, and internal service obligations, such as for
maintenance of facilities.
  

District Attorney Mike Hestrin acknowledged that his office continues
to contend with heavy case loads, but the agency has remained within spending
limits, and he expected to end the current fiscal year in the black.
  

``Everything is more expensive, and that hits us as well,'' Hestrin
told the board.
  

He asked for an additional $1.4 million over what the Executive Office
recommended in the office's 2025-26 spending plan, mainly to pay for
additional victims' services specialists and ``senior'' paralegals to handle
more administrative work that might otherwise require the attention of higher-
cost attorneys.
  

Fire Department Chief Bill Weiser gave the briefest presentation,
requesting an ``augmentation'' of $6 million in the agency's 2025-26
appropriations plan outlined by the Executive Office. The funding would be
roughly split between equipment outlays and new staffing expenses.
  

The EO is recommending an aggregate budget of $219.2 million for the
D.A.'s office, $1.17 billion for the sheriff's department and $577 million for
the fire department.
  

More than two-thirds of the county budget is composed of programmed
spending, including federal and state earmarks for specific uses, along with
grants and related external source revenue. The board has little control over
those dollars.
  

Direct property taxes remains the county's largest source of
discretionary income. It rose to $574 million in 2024-25, compared to $542.6
million in 2023-24, according to figures. The projection is for a $54 million,
or 10%, jump in the next fiscal year.
  

The Department of Public Social Services consistently requires the
highest level of appropriations of any one agency. For 2025-26, DPSS, which is
an umbrella for a range of programs, including dependent children, foster care,
adult protection and welfare benefits, is seeking $1.63 billion, while the EO
has said the ceiling should be $1.59 billion.
  

Following the budget hearing on Tuesday, the board is set to hold a
final one to consider last-minute requests and adjustments at the end of the
month.

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