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Monthly Archives: June 2019
Board approves balanced, visionary 2019-20 County budget
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously adopted a balanced $6.9 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
The budget fully funds increased costs to maintain current public service levels, makes a substantial contribution to capital project needs, and allocates funding to many projects and programs that support the Countywide Vision and the board’s goals and objectives.
“The Board’s longstanding fiscally prudent approach, coupled with continued growth in property and sales tax revenues, has placed the County in a position to take care of immediate needs and strategically invest in the future,” County Chief Executive Officer Gary McBride wrote to the Board.
Examples of funding recommendations include allocations to:
- Enhance public safety, such as the Sheriff Department’s Hope and START programs),
- Improve decision-making capabilities through the use of technology, such as Esri GIS licenses and support),
- Address workload issues, particularly staffing for the District Attorney and Public Defender,
- Invest in capital projects, such as gully funding the Valley Dispatch Center project.
The budget includes $406.9 million in reserves, $1 billion toward law and justice, $2.3 billion for human services, and $721 million for Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.
Attend a Community Vital Signs Stakeholder Community Meeting
The San Bernardino County Community Vital Signs Initiative would like to invite you to attend the 2019 Status of Our Vital Signs – Stakeholders Engagement meetings. As part of a community-wide health improvement effort, we would like to share data on a broad range of topics with intent to prioritize the most urgent issues that impact the health and wellness of county residents.
As a community stakeholder, your participation is of tremendous value as you hold great insight and perspective on the issues and challenges your communities and residents experience.
The Status of Our Vital Signs meetings will be held through a series of stakeholder engagement meetings which will be hosted in each of the five Supervisorial Districts.
We thank you to your continued support and look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events. Please RSVP and register at the following link: The Status of Our Vital Signs. If you would like more information, please contact Dori Baeza at (909) 387-9105.
S&P Global upgrades County’s credit rating to AA+
Citing prudent budgeting practices by the county and an improving county economy, one of the nation’s top three credit rating agencies today upgraded San Bernardino County‘s credit rating from AA to AA+.
“This is a testament to the great work being done by our budget staff, our department managers and all County employees, who provide the public with a high level of service with efficiency and innovation,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Curt Hagman.
The County requested the credit review by S&P Global as part of a $335.2 million dollar refunding of outstanding debt approved by the Board of Supervisors last month. Based on current market conditions, the County expects the higher rating to help save over $30 million dollars on that refunding alone.
In its notification to the county, S&P Global cited a strengthening local economy as part of the reason for the upgrade, particularly employment growth, a rise in retail activity and rebounding real estate values.
It also praised the County for using “fiscal discipline” in the face of surging tax revenue from the improved economy.
“We view the county’s management as very strong, with strong financial policies and practices,” S&P wrote in its notification to the County. “We view the county’s budgetary flexibility as very strong. … Management reports that stronger tax revenue and continued actions to reduce expenditure growth contributed to a rebound in general fund performance in recent fiscal years.”
Among the specifics S&P Global cited were:
- Strong budgetary performance, with operating surpluses at the general fund and the total governmental fund levels in fiscal 2018.
- Very strong debt and contingent liability profile.
- An analytically robust budget development process that uses trends and forecasts to build assumptions with input from local economists, and a budget document that includes details on assumptions to support decision-making by the Board of Supervisors.
- Quarterly budget updates to the Board of Supervisors that include details on year-to-date revenue and expenditures.
- Good debt disclosure online and in annual financial reports as well as a debt policy that is integrated with the strategic plan.
