Editor’s note: The San Benito County Water District filed a response to the Civil Grand Jury and can be found here. Lea este artículo en español aquí.
For the second consecutive year, the San Benito County Civil Grand Jury investigated the interpretation of the San Benito County Water District’s 1977 bond measure and found that continued tax revenue collection “is not reflected in the intention” of the measure.
Released June 17, the Civil Grand Jury’s report covers numerous investigations, including findings and recommendations, on issues such as understaffing in the Sheriff’s office and services at the homeless shelter.
The grand jury is convened annually and composed of 19 citizens who are sworn to serve as grand jurors and investigate the operations of various government departments and agencies.
According to the 47-page report, the 2024-25 Civil Grand Jury looked into the language that San Benito County Water District voters approved nearly half a century ago allowing the water district to borrow $19.9 million to build a system to import water.
While the 2023-24 Civil Grand Jury found the tax bill “appeared to have expired,” and suggested adding verbiage on the bill that the tax was for ongoing operations and maintenance, the most recent report says the measure is “open to many interpretations.”
The 2024-25 report recommends the water district stop collecting the tax because the 40-year period to repay the loan has passed, and suggests the district attempt to get support for a new measure to cover the operations and maintenance for the imported water system known as Zone 6 or the San Felipe Division of the Central Valley Water Project.
The grand jury also investigated the Sheriff’s Office facilities and found the Youth Detention Center lacks a formalized agreement with the county’s Behavioral Health Department, resulting in “unclear expectations of service.”
The report states a formalized agreement would guarantee services and clearly define the scope of mental health services to juveniles in custody.
In addition, the grand jury found the Corrections Division, the county’s Resource Management Agency and Code Enforcement division are all understaffed, negatively impacting their services and effectiveness. Recruiting and retaining staff has been an issue brought up by the Civil Grand Jury over the years.
Meanwhile, the county-led homeless shelter was also a part of the grand jury’s investigations, and found the shelter’s seasonal reduction of hours resulted in the loss of key staff members and setbacks for its clients. The shelter currently operates overnight unlike the winter season when it operates 24 hours.
According to the grand jury, the H.O.M.E. Resource Center would require an additional $400,000 annually to maintain year-round full-time operations including case management, meals and housing support.
The grand jury also found county Behavioral Health Services does not do enough outreach to clients of the homeless shelter.
The public agencies included in the report are required to submit a response to the findings and recommendations within 90 days after the final report is submitted.
BenitoLink will follow up with a more detailed article on each of the agencies that were investigated along with comments from those agencies.
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