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Amid protests by county workers over possible layoffs and cuts, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors has launched a series of workshops and public hearings to finalize the current 2025-26 fiscal year budget.
The process began Sept. 22 and will continue until supervisors balance revenues with spending and adopt a formal budget, which is required by state law by Oct. 2.
For more than five months, the board has grappled with a particularly challenging budget, which is the result of years of revenues lagging behind spending and a reliance on one-time state and federal funds.
“The issue that we’ve been having in this county is that you keep using one-time money to make up the budget,” County Administrative Officer Esperanza Colio Warren said. “The reserves should be higher now and they’re not there anymore. You are on the borderline on the bottom line on having a financial crisis.”
The board’s goal is to reduce the $95 million budget it approved in June to $72 million. That earlier plan, adopted in June after weeks of debate, was always meant to be amended. To close the $23 million gap, county officials have spent months drafting cuts across nearly every department.
On Monday, Warren said the shortfall had been reduced to $8 million and laid out a plan to narrow it further. Her proposal called for $1.2 million in operational cuts, the elimination of 13 vacant positions and nine filled ones across departments like County Counsel, Public Works, Elections and the Agricultural Commissioner’s office.
Even then, the county would still face a $4.9 million gap. Warren suggested filling it with a furlough of one day per pay period for county employees, along with another $2.1 million in operating reductions.
The proposal was opposed by county employees represented by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 521. They urged supervisors to avoid layoffs, reduce the county’s reliance on outside consultants instead of its own staff, and use county reserves to close the gap. They also argued that if furloughs are imposed, administrators, managers, and board members should take them as well, in solidarity.
SEIU San Benito Chapter President Christina Cardenas and Vice President Denise Quintana told BenitoLink that furloughs and cuts would severely hurt the amount and quality of services the county provides.
Cardenas, who works in the assessor’s office, warned that staff reductions could even jeopardize the county’s main source of revenue.
“If we have fewer workers, then it’s fewer workers to determine the values of the property taxes; and then how are they going to get that revenue?” she said. “They need the workforce to do the work in order for them to get the revenue their general fund is based on.”
Supervisors voted to continue the budget sessions, which will be resumed after the regular board meeting on Sept. 23.
On Sept. 24, at 9 a.m., the board, along with the department heads, will continue a line-by-line review workshop of department expenditures in the Sheriff’s Office conference room at 2301 Technology Parkway.
Another public hearing is scheduled for Sept. 25 at 9 a.m. in the county chambers.
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