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After word of layoffs spread throughout San Benito County government, the Board of Supervisors in a special meeting on June 2 unanimously voted to disavow unauthorized proposed layoff notices that were made public.
Layoffs were suggested as a way to close the county’s current budget gap, but the board never authorized layoff notices.
The confusion began on May 30, one day after the supervisors reviewed the proposed 2025–26 budget and identified a $30 million gap between the proposed plan and the current county budget.
That afternoon, a message went out to county departments which read, “budget shortfalls require the county to implement cost-saving measures and propose layoffs.” In all, 11 people were identified in the message as slated to receive layoff notices.
But the board never formally approved the notices, and department heads were not informed. Some, like County Assessor Tom Slavich, said they learned of the cuts through texts from staff.
San Benito County District Attorney Joel Buckingham said that those layoffs were against the law, as they were not voted on and approved by the board.
Buckingham also said the layoffs were “void” since they didn’t come from the board but from “a senior HR analyst.”
San Benito County Sheriff Eric Taylor said the confusion showed “a failure of leadership” and that the administration is “hiding” information.
“I’m going to tell all you five (supervisors), administration makes it seem like the direction is coming from you,” Taylor told the board. “But I’ve had some phenomenal conversations over the last few days with some of you and I truly think that you’re in the dark. Some say our interim county administrative officer made the decision solely, others say that she was directed to by the Board of Supervisors.”
Interim CAO Henie Ring was not present at the meeting and is on leave.
Supervisor Angela Curro noted that the proposed budget has been posted online, which has numbers the board criticized during its last meeting, and shows more proposed cuts than those discussed in previous meetings.
“I feel right now for the interim CAO who is on leave, this is not all on her shoulders,” she said. “I believe that there are pressures that have been given to be able to make a balanced budget. Where those pressures came from? I don’t know.”
It was not made clear in the meeting who gave the order to issue layoffs.
Board Chair Kollin Kosmicki said they did not come from the board’s ad hoc budget committee, which he co-chairs.
“The ad hoc did not compile the layoff list that went out Friday,” he said. “We have communicated throughout the last several weeks that we did not want the layoff list to go out this soon. I knew there were a number of reductions that were being proposed, but we were not involved with putting together a specific list of all these names and positions that went out.”
Kosmicki also said that the committee’s “mantra” has been to wait until budget numbers are verified before taking any action.
“We do not want to communicate that the sky is falling, and take actions in accordance with the sky falling, if we don’t have confidence in the current budget and we don’t necessarily believe the sky is falling,” he said.
Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez, who is also part of the budget committee, said that he is “not talking about any layoffs or cuts” until he has the numbers cleared.
The board ultimately rescinded the layoff notices and agreed to revisit the issue during budget hearings scheduled for June 9.
Also at the June 2 meeting, in an effort to add more oversight to the process, the board approved by a 3-2 vote the formation of a budget management team that will work directly with the county’s financial consultants.
The team will include the county assessor, the treasurer-tax collector, the district attorney, two supervisors, the former budget officer, and former county administrative officer Ray Espinosa.
Espinosa was the county’s CAO for more than 10 years and stepped down in May 2024. In November, the board appointed him as special executive advisor and tasked him with helping the board hire a new CAO.
That process ended in May when the board appointed Esperanza Colio Warren as new CAO. She will begin on June 16.
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