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Grappling with a budget that has been difficult to balance as revenue has failed to keep pace with spending, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors will hold a special meeting on May 29 at 9 a.m. at the county’s Administration Building to continue its 2025–26 budget discussions.
That same day, the board is also expected to approve the contract of a new county administrative officer, Esperanza Colio Warren, who is a former city manager of Calexico. If approved, Colio Warren would have a three-year contract starting on June 16, with an annual salary of $290,000.
This year’s budget process has been particularly challenging. When the county began drafting it, it stumbled upon a $6.5 million shortfall.
On April 15, the first day of public budget meetings, the board abandoned its plans to form a joint powers authority with Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital, which would have cost $5 million. The move helped reduce the gap to $1.5 million.
County consultants have attributed the problem to rising costs of fire protection services, information technology upgrades, worker compensation insurance and post-employment benefits combined with slow revenue growth.
Although San Benito County’s spending has steadily increased in recent years, its income hasn’t kept up.
According to the county budget portal, while the county ended fiscal years 2021–22 and 2022–23 with more revenue than expenses, the picture changed in 2023–24.
That year, expenses nearly doubled and revenues rose by just 44%. Much of the spending increase was driven by capital fund expenditures and road improvement projects.
In 2024–25, the trend continued. Expenses were projected to grow by 11%, while revenue was expected to increase by only 4%.
According to the May 29 public hearing agenda, this year’s budget is also affected by inflation and the fact that state and federal funding have not kept pace with the rising costs.
To address the shortfall, the county’s main strategy is to address what the board has called the “vacancy budget,” cutting positions that have remained unfilled for a long time. The county currently has 638 open positions and a vacancy rate of 16.2%.
The supervisors also implemented a temporary hiring freeze across all county departments— with exceptions for key roles approved by the board—until the budget is finalized.
The supervisors will discuss the recommended budget on May 29 and aim for final approval at a public hearing on June 9.
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