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On May 13, Celina Stotler stood before the San Benito County Board of Supervisors and asked for help. As the manager of Integrated Waste Management, she is leading the county’s effort to clear homeless encampments along the San Benito River. For the past week, she said, she has spent up to 14 hours a day walking the riverbanks, coordinating logistics, collecting donations, and working with unhoused residents.
The workload, she said, is pulling her from her other responsibilities, and unless she got an assistant to help with her regular duties, she told the board the sweep would have to stop.
“A lot of my time is being dedicated to the encampment cleanup efforts,” she said. “I have state reporting requirements this summer and certain deadlines before July that we need to meet, and I’m going to need to divert my time to that if I can’t get the position filled.”
Stotler was one of four department heads who asked the board to lift the temporary hiring freeze at the May 13 meeting. On May 6, supervisors halted recruitment across the county to control spending as they finalize the 2025–26 budget. Casting the budget has been difficult this year as the county is facing a $1.5 million shortfall. County consultants have said that gap is the result of constrained revenue growth and the rising costs for fire protection services, information technology upgrades, worker compensation insurance and post-employment benefits.
Along with Stotler, the heads of three county offices—treasurer/tax collector/public administrator; assessor; and probation department—requested exemptions to fill long-vacant roles they argued were critical. With 638 open positions, the county currently has a vacancy rate of 16.2%.
The board’s main strategy for closing the budget gap is to eliminate positions that have remained unfilled for a long time.
Christina Cardenas, chapter president of the Service Employees International Union, which represents nearly 400 county staff, warned the supervisors that freezing hiring and eliminating vacancies could accelerate resignations and ultimately harm residents.
“It is worrisome to cut off the possibility of filling much-needed positions, ultimately increasing the risk of our current staff experiencing burnout,” Cardenas said.
Public Works Administrator Steve Loupe spoke in support of Stotler.
“Celina won’t say this, but she’s been working till 11 p.m. multiple nights, mostly on encampment cleanup efforts and coordination,” he said. “Another person from Integrated Waste was here until 10 the other night. It’s a little bit frustrating when we have non-general funds available to be used, instead of having our current staff working till 10 and 11 at night to implement the will of the board.”
General fund tapped out
Unlike general fund positions—which are paid from the county’s main operating budget—at least one position in each of the four departments requesting exemptions is funded through other sources. That gave the board a way out. Since the positions do not require money from the general fund, supervisor Ignacio Velazquez suggested allowing each department to hire one employee. The motion was approved unanimously.
The broader freeze remains in place. Board Chair Kollin Kosmicki, who sits on the supervisors’ budget committee, said the pause in hiring was necessary as the county grapples with uncertainty over whether it can afford to fill all vacant positions. He said that although “the sky is not falling,” they are still trying to get a hold of the budget and avoid a crisis.
“If we do have a big problem, we’re going to face potential layoffs,” he said.“If there’s a problem, we are going to have to shift potentially some of our current employees into some of these open positions. I’m just going to put it out there. That’s what we’re facing here. That’s why there’s a hesitation to fill these roles.”
Supervisor Angela Curro said she was feeling “nervous” about the budget and was trying to prevent layoffs.
“I don’t want us to get to where we were in 2012, where department heads had to make cuts that were so drastic,” she said. “We cut hours for the public down to three hours a day in some departments. That’s how bad it got.”
The budget remains under review, and with the exception of the four positions approved at the May 13 meeting, all hiring is paused until the budget is completed. The first budget hearing is scheduled for May 29, and a final budget must be adopted by the end of June.
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