New county budget: “preparing for uncertainty”

The county is boosting funds for mental-health services, roads and affordable housing, among other items. This week, the Board of Supervisors held final budget hearings and approved a $540 million budget, a four percent increase from last year, that prioritized six areas in need of additional funds; those areas include pensions, technology and the implementation of a five-year business plan approved late last year. County staff projected a balanced budget for the coming two fiscal years, but after that, the situation is less certain and there will probably be “slight shortfalls,” county Administrator Matthew Hymel said. The new budget includes $12 million worth of one-time allocations, including $6 million for road improvements, $1 million for the county’s affordable housing trust fund, $450,000 for a program that enlists the assistance of the Community Land Trust Association of West Marin to incentivize landlords to rent affordably, $525,000 for a transitional housing complex for those with mental-health needs, $1 million for a pension reserve fund and $100,000 for a pesticide-education program, among other allocations. The county also approved $3 million in ongoing expenditures, including $1 million per year devoted to road maintenance and improvement, $600,000 for psychiatric services, $400,000 for homeless services, $500,000 for traffic congestion management and $500,000 for technical and customer-service improvement. Overall, Mr. Hymel called the theme for the budget “preparing for future uncertainty,” which is why he said the budget includes investments now in key areas like roads, “so we don’t fall behind.” He said the future uncertainty stemmed in large part from state numbers; the legislature is projecting budget deficits in a few years because it is not known whether a 2012 sales and income tax will be approved again by voters this year. That impacts Marin, where 30 percent of the budget comes from the state. Growth rates for property-tax revenue may also slow slightly. The county deficit should amount to between $2 and $5 million, which one county staffer described as about one percent of the budget. “There’s no reason to panic, but it’s something we’re keeping our eyes on,” he said.