County Budget Focuses on Social, Health Services

The Budget maintains the capacity to provide services to County residents while implementing strategic initiatives that address the Board’s priorities.

“Sacramento County’s FY 2018/19 budget clearly acknowledges the pressing needs of the community with the additional investments in mental health, alcohol and drug programs and services to homeless individuals,” said District 3 County Supervisor and Board Chair Susan Peters. “We’ve done exactly what we set out to do: make significant investments in public health and safety, while at the same time fully funding current staffing and program needs with a balanced budget.”

More than 80 percent of the County’s investment in new or enhanced programs is in the Health Services Department, with the focus on addressing critical needs in the Mental Health and Alcohol and Drug programs, including:

• $5.9 million to implement the Drug Medi-Cal Waiver that will provide enhanced drug treatment services to the community.
• $4 million to develop and implement a program that provides trauma-informed mental health services and support for foster youth, with a focus on placement stability for foster youth and their families.
• $24.2 million to continue to implement the Board-approved three-year MHSA (Mental Health Services Act) to expedite mental health services for individuals with serious mental illness and/or co-occurring substance abuse disorders and are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
• $4.7 million to provide contract and rate increases for mental health service providers to ensure provider stability and uninterrupted services for patients.​

The Budget will also continue funding for programs and services that were initiated over the last few years with Board approval, including:

• ​Initiatives to address homelessness, such as Rapid Rehousing, the winter shelter program, improving family crisis response and shelters, preserving the Mather Community Campus, establishing a full-service rehousing shelter and implementing a flexible supportive rehousing program.
• The Parkways and Unincorporated Communities Clean-up and Safety Initiative to reduce the incidence and mitigate the impact of illegal camping in the County’s parkways and unincorporated communities.
• The intelligence-led policing model being implemented by the Sheriff’s Department.
• The Healthy Partners Program that provides healthcare services to undocumented immigrants, increasing the enrollment cap from 3,000 to 4,000 and eliminating the upper age limit of 64 years.
• A strategic plan to reduce disproportionate African-American child deaths through community-based contracts and targeted staffing in Child Protective Services, Public Health and Probation.
• Implementation of an Adult Supervision Model in Probation that will prioritize supervision and services for high-risk probationers in the first six months to a year of probation.
• Implementation of the Sheriff’s ShotSpotter Initiative, that uses acoustic surveillance technology to identify and respond to illegal gunfire incidents in selected geographic areas in real time.
• Animal Care Initiatives focused on improving animal care, increased spay/neuter services and increasing the Bradshaw Shelter’s live release rate.
• Efforts to reduce fire danger and illegal camping, increase debris removal and enhance the visitor experience in the American River Parkway and the County’s Regional Parks.

For details, read the County Executive’s Budget Letter or view the budget documents on the Office of Budget and Debt Management.

The numbers on the Recommended Budget will change between now and September, when the County receives new information including the impact of the State Budget and updated revenue totals. The Final Budget will come back to the Board of Supervisors in September for review and adoption.

By The Numbers:

• $4.2 B: Total Budget

• $1.7 B: General Fund

• $2.5 B: Enterprise and Special Revenue

• $862 M: Restricted Funds

• 12,233: Number of Employees