The Merced County Board of Supervisors approved its Fiscal Year 2019-20 Proposed Budget at its Tuesday meeting — a $670.1 million spending plan that focuses on several key areas, including public safety, homelessness, transportation and economic development.
The proposal is a temporary operating plan until the uncertainty surrounding several economic and state impacts are clarified. The board will consider final adoption of the plan during its Sept. 10 meeting.
This year’s budget is an increase of $45.6 million from last year’s Final Budget of $624.5 million. The difference is primarily due to increased federal/state revenues for health and human services programs, road funded projects, and development of the California Auto-Tech Testing and Development Center (CATDC).
Of the $670.1 million, $528.6 million is programmatic funding, and $141.5 million requires funding from local discretionary resources (net county costs).
With local revenues projected at $97.4 million and estimating a fund balance of $41 million, the budget includes approximately $3.1 million in one-time adjustments to cover the shortfall.
Between now and final approval, Merced County staff will consider potential adjustments that could help balance the budget. While revenues are flattening out as opposed to decreasing, increasing obligations are consuming a greater portion of the county’s discretionary resources, particularly in the area of employee labor costs.
As with prior budgets, public safety is a top priority. It is allocated more than half of the county’s discretionary resources, and that number continues to grow. The budget dedicates 54 percent of the county’s discretionary resources toward public safety.
In addition to allocations of funding toward recruitment and retention efforts to improve public safety services, the county also provided match funding recently for the $40 million Senate Bill 863 grant to reconstruct the John Latorraca Correctional Center. The county is still working with the state to move the project closer to construction, which is expected to begin by early 2020.
Once complete, the work will provide better security and allow for additional programs that reduce recidivism. Furthermore, staff is in the process of exploring financing options for a second phase of the project that would include an expansion of the John LatorracaCorrectional Center and the consolidation of the Main Jail into it. The county is still in the initial stages of this project and has completed preliminary design work.
Homelessness also continues to be a top priority for Merced County, its six cities, as well as its community partners. The county is in the process of working with the six cities and the Continuum of Care to develop a Regional Homelessness Plan that focuses on a variety of key areas, including outreach and engagement, navigation services, and transitional and long-term supportive housing.
The development of this plan will better position the county and its partners to access state and federal funding dedicated to addressing the statewide homelessness crisis.
The budget continues to see a steady influx of dedicated road funding as a result of the Measure V half-cent sales tax approved by Merced County voters in 2016 and the Senate Bill 1 transportation funding package approved by the State Legislature in 2017. Measure V and SB 1 collectively bring in approximately $10 million in additional road funding every year forMerced County unincorporated areas alone.
One of the next priorities for the county is the construction of Phase 1B of the Atwater-Merced Expressway, which will connect Highway 99 with the Mid-California International Trade District, previously known as Castle Commerce Center. The project will also complete the northwest portion of the “Merced Loop System,” which will circle Merced City and connect surrounding communities. County revenue has already been dedicated toward the project, including $2 million in the proposed budget to be used on environmental review work. In addition to the county’s participation, regional Measure V funding (which would have to be approved by the Merced County Association of Governments’ Board of Directors) and potential federal grant funding through the FAST Act would go a long way toward bringing this $79 million project to fruition.
Beyond encouraging industry to locate at the Mid-California International Trade District, theAtwater-Merced Expressway will also aid in the development of the on-site CATDC. The automotive industry is undergoing tremendous growth and is in the midst of a transformation. This evolution requires new offsite testing and support facilities — MercedCounty’s CATDC is designed to accommodate that.
The project includes the creation of a 300-acre shared-use site to allow brand-name vehicle manufacturers to conduct a variety of testing, including autonomous and high-speed. The project has already received an allocation of $6.5 million of state funding.
Along with the future construction of Phase 1B of the Atwater-Merced Expressway, another critical component of this project is the county’s work with the Federal Aviation Administration to release land on the airport side of the property that can be used for automotive testing.
Conceptual design of the site is currently underway, in collaboration with multiple autonomous vehicle industry leaders.
Nearly a dozen companies continue to test their vehicles, sensors and equipment on site today. Additionally, Waymo—Google’s driverless car company—continues to operate its 100+ acre parcel separately from the CATDC, which is believed to be the largest proprietary autonomous vehicle testing environment in North America. The CATDC and Mid-California International Trade District are both long-range plans that are expected to help drive economic opportunities and job growth for Merced County.