Alameda County supervisors hear push to rely on reserves to fund additional social programs
COUNTY NEWS
—BUDGET UPDATE—Alameda County is taking its fiscal year budget process right down to the wire. All municipal budgets are required to be balanced and approved by June 30.
—Alameda County supervisors will approve the $3.4 billion 2022-23 fiscal year budget on Thursday afternoon. The proposed budget, which county supervisors moved forward on Tuesday, closes a $49 million budget shortfall but with no cuts to county staff or programs.
—But with dark skies gathering in the local and national economy, some county supervisors are looking ahead to a possible recession. Earlier this month, Supervisor Keith Carson put a damper on a relatively strong economic recovery in Alameda County following the depths of the pandemic.
—“We’re also going to have to figure out how we’re going to navigate the minefield of uncertainty to provide services over the next five year,” Carson said at a budget hearing two weeks ago.
—But the approach is leading activists and non-profits to urge county leaders to dip into its roughly $75 million reserve.
—“There’s a lot of people who say go straight to the reserves,” Carson said. “The reserves are for rainy days and people are saying it’s raining now. Yes, it is. For us on the board it may not be raining as much for the people who are homeless or the people struggling to survive and pay the rent, or child care, or get to work because of the high cost of gas, but we recognize it’s raining.”
—Carson suggested the county could look to borrow to fund services in the future. To do so in a least-costly manner, it will need to maintain its coveted AAA-rating. Carson said the county is meeting this week with the three credit-rating agencies—Fitch, Standard & Poor, and Moody’s.
—The high credit-rating is valuable and difficult to achieve, he said. “We’re almost providing a miracle to get a AAA-rating. Believe me, it’s hard to get a AAA-rating in order to have money in case we need to borrow to continue to provide services.”
—Carson responded to criticism about the county’s budget process by calling it a balancing act to provide basic services while funding worthwhile social programs.
—“We are trying to do it not as fiscal conservatives. We’re trying to do it in a balancing act,” Carson said. “We’re trying to figure out in a balanced way, with our scarce resources, to provide the basic services first and foremost.” The county doesn’t know how many more people will need services in the near future, he added.
—“We’re trying to make sure that at lease everybody gets a little bit of soup everyday,” Carson said.
—AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOND—In the middle of Tuesday’s budget discussion came a proposal by Supervisor Nate Miley to have county staff study the possibility of a countywide general obligation bond to fund additional affordable housing.
—ELECTION INTEGRITY—There was one other section included in the Alameda County Civil Grand Jury report released on Tuesday. An investigation into the integrity of Alameda County’s elections in 2020 and 2021 that appeared to have been generated solely by the grand jury.
—There have not been any credible complaints against the integrity of the Alameda County Registrar of Voters (ROV), but in light of false assertions about the fairness of the 2020 presidential election, the grand jury was compelled to show our local elections can be trusted.
—The grand jury found “sufficient” evidence to prove the integrity of Alameda County elections in 2020 and 2021. “There was no evidence of unresolved problems in the election processes under the ROV’s jurisdiction,” the grand jury found. “And when particular problems emerged at specific sites, the ROV moved quickly to address them in a manner that ensured all votes cast were counted.”
—Last week, a Republican candidate in the East Bay’s 14th Congressional District alleged wrongdoing by the registrar as she observed the counting of election night ballots. The results earlier this month, however, favored the candidate, a QAnon adherent named Alison Hayden. She advanced to the November ballot after finishing second to Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell.
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—We break down how Yesenia Sanchez defeated Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern, and other races in a thrilling June primary election season.
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