San Bernardino County BOS Adopts Balanced Budget
Posted by: Joshua White | 06/24/2008 8:15 PM
According to a press release from San Bernardino County's Public Information Office, "the Board of Supervisors today adopted a balanced, on-time, $4.3 billion 2008-09 budget." Read the full release here (PDF). The Board of Supervisors seems to have made a habit of adopting balanced budgets in past years. Thankfully, they've managed to continue the tradition even in this struggling economy.
This is a great accomplishment for the Board of Supervisors, particularly considering the state of the local housing market. As you may know, San Bernardino County has been hit particularly hard by the foreclosure crisis, and one major source of funding for county government is property tax revenue.
The county has gone from increases in total countywide assessed valuation (which directly correlates to property tax revenues) of 17.9% and 15.9% in 2006 and 2007 to a projected increase in 2008 of between 2% and 4% (for the purposes of preparing this budget, the CAO used 3%).
While some departments saw decreases in funding, many of the county's key departments have received significant increases. For instance, the Sheriff-Coroner received a $8.9 million increase in funding, and the District Attorney received a $7.8 million increase.
The full proposed 2008-2009 budget can found here. Of particular interest is the year to year comparison, which can be found here (7.7MB PDF).
CATEGORY:
FEATURE, Local SB Issues
Nice post. I like the emphasis on the fact that our Board has a reputation for passing balanced and fiscally responsible budgets. Now, if only our state could follow this good example...
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't county administrators required by law to balance the budget? As to "fiscally responsible" there are many who would disagree although I don't happen to be one of them, at least not overall. We are lucky in that our county has traditionally been a fiscally conservative county and that approach has served its citizens well.