In the annual tug-of-war over public spending across the sprawling San Diego County bureaucracy, public safety and social services trumped land-use planning, the environment and capital projects by $180 million in a draft budget released Thursday.
The $8.6 billion spending plan represents an $85 million boost over the current budget, while also erasing a pesky deficit that was estimated at $138 million earlier this year.
But the balanced blueprint takes a big bite out of the county’s infrastructure investment, slicing the capital projects budget by roughly two-thirds, or $90 million. The recommended spending in that space would be reduced to just over $45 million.
It also carves almost $70 million from the finance department and $20 million from the land use and environment agency — programs that together for barely one-eighth of all annual spending, or just over $1.1 billion.
The proposed budget, which is likely to be amended as public discussions move forward, comes as the Board of Supervisors remains politically divided since the surprise resignation early this year of former Supervisor Nora Vargas.
The board has deadlocked on a number of ideological issues in recent months between its Republican supervisors, Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond, and its Democrats, Terra Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe.
Just this week, Lawson-Remer and Montgomery Steppe proposed recalibrating the county reserve policy to free up some $355 million now being banked as part of a broader rainy-day fund.
Anderson and Desmond have indicated they would not such a restructuring. A fifth supervisor will be sworn this summer, after a July 1 runoff vote between Chula Vista Mayor John McCann and Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, who are vying to succeed Vargas.
The recommended budget landed as San Diego County and other local government agencies continue to wrestle with claw-backs and cuts to grants and other funding controlled by the Trump istration.
For instance, earlier this year, the county was told it was losing $40 million in public health funding.
“While it includes difficult recommendations, this budget provides a path to create a degree of certainty where there is uncertainty and creates a framework that provides fiscal stability for the future,” Chief istrative Officer Ebony Shelton wrote in her budget message.
The county’s public safety group fared best, spending-wise.
The agency that s the Sheriff’s Office, Probation Department, District Attorney’s Office and other services would get $149 million more than it got in the current fiscal year’s budget.
While the public safety group would for $2.9 billion in annual spending — more than a third of the county’s overall budget — staffing across the various agencies it s would shrink by 15 full-time positions. It would nonetheless still employ just over 8,000 people.
The biggest-spending corner of the county budget would remain the health and human services agency.
The recommended budget calls for raising social services spending to more than $3.5 billion — almost 41% of all county spending. The draft 2025-26 budget increases the current health and human services investment by $65 million.
But while proposed expenditures reached a historic high at $8.6 billion, the recommended budget trims 190 jobs from the overall county workforce, or roughly 1%.
Public health and social services bear the brunt of those cuts, with 168 positions eliminated from the county’s biggest department. The full number of health and human services agency full-time positions would be 8,075.
The land use and environment group — which oversees planning, parks, public works and libraries, among other services — would lose nine full-time positions.
It would enter the next fiscal year with 2,152 workers, just over 10% of the county’s 20,000-plus employees. Many of the 190 lost jobs were achieved through attrition and by eliminating some vacant positions, officials said.
Crystal Irving, who runs the largest union that represents county workers, said the proposed loss of jobs would hurt critical services like behavioral health, environmental protection and helping homeless people.
“Federal and state budget uncertainty means it is raining,” the Service Employees International Union Local 221 president said. “County workers on the frontlines are calling upon the Board of Supervisors to take action and tap into our rainy-day fund, our reserves, so we can protect and strategically invest in services at this critical moment.”
San Diego County delivers services to every one of its 3.3 million residents, including public health, parks and libraries. It also provides police and fire protection through the Sheriff’s Office and a regional fire authority.
In their news release related to the recommended budget, county officials highlighted some of the most pressing issues — and how they plan to attack them.
The recommended budget includes more than $840 million for social services like food assistance, cash aid and Medi-Cal that benefit more than 1 million people. It sets aside $29 million to upgrade jails and $9 million to renovate the East Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility.
More than $130 million is designated to help people with housing, including developing affordable and ive housing projects. And $15 million is earmarked for a regional homelessness program.
“Our county budget remains focused on making San Diego a place where people can thrive — where residents feel ed and where the county workforce is empowered to serve with heart, purpose and integrity,” said Shelton, the county chief .
“It reflects our shared commitment to ensuring this region continues to be a great place to live, work and play for everyone who calls it home,” she added.
Community groups and of the public are invited to comment on the proposed spending plan. An open house is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 22, at the County Operations Center, and a virtual event at 5:30 p.m. on May 28 can be accessed online.
