County budget totaling $10.36 billion for next fiscal year approved

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) - The Board of Supervisors today formally adopted a $10.36 billion budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year, incorporating some new allocations deemed necessary during hearings on the proposed spending blueprint.

"The revisions represent targeted investments in priorities identified by the board,'' county CEO Jeff Van Wagenen said in the final appropriations report received by the board Tuesday. "The 2026-27 budget
continues to prioritize preservation of core services, avoidance of widespread layoffs, maintenance of prudent reserves and gradual reduction of the structural deficit through active fiscal management."

The board signed off on the spending plan in a 5-0 vote without comment. However, prior to the close of the public hearing, Moreno Valley resident and frequent board commentator Roy Bleckert told the supervisors the budget reflected their lack of "will to do what's right."  

"Costs are rising higher than revenues,'' he said. ``But the county doesn't have a revenue problem. It's spending.''   

Bleckert said the board's priorities were off, such as making larger allocations to Housing First initiatives to expand affordable residential complexes that won't "make this community safer'' because vagrants will still be out on the streets, committing crimes and refusing any type of mental health treatment, he said. He complained that the board should have provided funding to fully open the Benoit Detention Center in Indio, only a quarter of which is operational.

Van Wagenen indicated during the June 8-9 budget hearings that layoffs may be unavoidable in some departments. He emphasized the hiring freeze initiated last year will continue, along with targeted spending cuts and controls, to mitigate deficit spending. According to the CEO, "just-in-time" funding will be available to meet specific needs as the board engages in unending ``budget management'' throughout the coming fiscal year.   

At the end of the hearings earlier this month, the Executive Office returned to the board with $27.4 million in new allocations to at least partially satisfy agencies' needs.

The augmented outlays include $8.5 million more for the county Sheriff's Department, $679,000 more for the District Attorney's Office and $250,000 more for the Department of Animal Services.

The increased allotment to the Sheriff's Department remains well below what Sheriff Chad Bianco insisted he needed to preclude patrol deputy layoffs. He told the board that without another $250 million, he'll end up slashing over 600 deputies from payrolls in the next few years.

"This is a massive number that we cannot recover from,'' he said. 

Bianco said roughly $138 million of the $250 million request that his staff submitted to the Executive Office, and wasn't accepted, amounts to "stay flat funding'' to keep the agency about where it was in staffing during the current fiscal year.

He asserted there would be major impacts to unincorporated communities as patrols are taken away to ensure the 17 municipalities that contract with the county for law enforcement services continue to receive protection.   

"These are tough budget times,'' Supervisor Jose Medina told Bianco. "The pain needs to be distributed across the county departments. As important as public safety is, it cannot be helped not to feel some of the pain (of spending caps)."

Supervisor Manuel Perez advocated for the quarter-million dollar increase in the Department of Animal Services' budget, mainly for continuation of pet adoption campaigns intended to attain a near-term goal of turning the county's shelters into "no kill" facilities.

As it stands now, the county has a projected $46 million structural budget deficit going into 2026-27.

The proposed $10.36 billion appropriations plan represents a roughly 3.5% increase from the 2025-26 budget, which totaled $9.98 billion.   

The new blueprint indicated that 30% of allocations will be dedicated to health and hospital services, followed by 23% for public safety units, 19% for human services, 11% for public works, 9% for internal support to departments and 7% for agencies dedicated to various governmental operations, such as the Office of County Counsel.   

The county's composite reserves should top out at $584 million by the start the new fiscal on July 1. However, earlier projections had put the figure at $650 million.

More than two-thirds of the county budget is composed of programmed spending, including federal and state earmarks for specific uses, along with grants and related external source revenue. The board has little control over those dollars.