The Plumas County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing at 11 a.m. June 18 to allow input on a county budget proposed for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
The proposed budget is scheduled for publication June 7, with final adoption to follow June 25 at a special board of supervisors meeting. Analysis of the budget will be available to the public June 14.
Dollar figures were still in flux and unavailable June 4, when County Administrative Officer Debra Lucero announced the budget schedule. With information still coming in, the budget will be published June 7, giving the public 11 days to review financial figures for each county department and overall countywide spending recommendations.
Lucero has been working for months to move the county budget process from September, when hearings have been held for the last seven years, to June. State law requires counties to adopt budgets by June 30. The 2023-2024 budget was not adopted until October 2. Lucero is pushing to get this one done on time.
“We’re adopting this budget three months earlier than usual, which is a push,” Lucero told The Plumas Sun. She and other county officials are focused on balancing the budget and analyzing it between now and June 18, she said.
Not a rollover budget
If adopted June 25, the 2024-2025 Plumas County budget will be the first one in seven years that does not simply carry over the essential financial numbers from the previous year. The figures presented will be as accurate as possible and based on consultation with each department head, Lucero said.
“This is a whole different experience,” she said.
The 2023-2024 budget totaled $141.7 million, with $42 million in general funds including $15.6 million in unassigned funds available for the supervisors to allot as needed. While Lucero did not release dollar figures related to the new budget at the supervisors’ June 4 meeting, she did announce several proposed changes:
Reduce supervisors’ monthly meetings from three to two. Instead of meeting on the first three Tuesdays of each month, Lucero proposed meeting only twice a month. That would save money and reduce staff time, she said: “Right now all we are doing is preparing for the next meeting. We need time to get work done.”
Allocate $400,000 of the PG&E settlement to grants management. Plumas County is managing more than 17 grants largely related to planning and rebuilding after the 2021 Dixie Fire. It will likely apply for additional grant funding, Lucero said. She proposed allocating $400,000 of the county’s $7.8 million Pacific Gas and Electric Co. settlement payment to hire a long-term recovery coordinator to manage the county’s grants over the next three years. “There are a lot of moving parts and not enough people to manage them,” she said.
Increase department heads’ discretionary spending allowance. Currently, department heads can spend up to $5,000 per expenditure without board approval. Lucero proposed increasing that to $10,000. Her own spending allowance would jump from up to $10,000 to between $15,000 and $20,000 under the proposal. “It would simplify the process for everyone,” she said June 4.
The supervisors are expected to consider these proposals when they meet later in June to review and adopt a 2024-2025 budget. Board of Supervisors Chairman Greg Hagwood thanked Lucero for accomplishing “tremendous work under challenging circumstances.”
