Santa Clara County budget makes steep cuts to safety net programs

Santa Clara County leaders are recommending a net reduction of 464 jobs across the region’s social safety net programs to shoulder a $787 million deficit in their nearly $15 billion budget.

County Executive James Williams’ Friday recommendations mark a 7.5% spending increase to the county budget compared to last year, as expenses continue to outpace revenue due to slow growth in property tax revenue. This year’s starker fiscal crisis accounts for unprecedented federal spending cuts under H.R. 1, the federal spending bill creating $1 billion in annual losses to the county. The Board of Supervisors could still make potential changes before adopting the budget by June 31.

“We cannot do this work alone,” Williams said to a room of reporters and health leaders inside the county’s overburdened flagship hospital, Valley Medical Center, as doctors and nurses breezed by. “We need the state to be a strong partner in this moment. That means preserving access to care, supporting public hospital systems and helping counties manage the cost of caring for those who will lose coverage as a result of the callous actions of this federal administration.”

Last November, voters approved the county’s proposal to levy a five-eighths cent sales tax increase called Measure A. The county is seeing $337 million in extra revenue from the tax increase this year. Williams is proposing a full allocation of Measure A money to the county’s public hospital system, which has become California’s second largest. But Williams has said the measure won’t be enough to get the county out of its fiscal hole – and has criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom for state budget proposals that leave counties to fend for themselves against H.R. 1.

This year’s budget advances a growing rift between county administration and the county’s top prosecutor. District Attorney Jeff Rosen and the unions representing county sheriff’s deputies and prosecutors initially held off on endorsing Measure A last year until saying they gained assurances they would see some of Measure A’s revenue. When Williams indicated he would recommend full allocation of Measure A to hospitals, DA Jeff Rosen publicly threatened an investigation into whether the Measure A campaign misled voters.

Rosen has since put public pressure on county leaders to shield his office from drastic cuts. Williams’ budget message recommends the deletion of 42 positions in Rosen’s office.

“The County Executive chose to substitute his own recommendations over the ones we provided. The cuts proposed are too large – and too large compared to other departments,” Rosen told San José Spotlight. “His recommendations, made without consulting with my Office, would have serious impacts on public safety in our community. I look forward to discussing with members of the Board of Supervisors these recommendations, public safety, and the principle that the DA should decide how the DA’s Office carries out its mission.”

Williams said his recommendations propose a net increase in DA spending – and that public safety remains the county’s single largest area of discretionary spending in the county budget.

“That’s a reflection of increased costs of salaries, benefits and services associated with that function,” Williams said at the news conference. “While undoubtedly the District Attorney would like to have additional resources – as every department in the county would – we’ve taken a balanced and thoughtful approach to ensure the levels of staffing in that office are the same as they were five years ago in fiscal year ‘22.”

The Behavioral Health Department, which is facing a $100 million deficit in the upcoming fiscal year, will feel the most hurt this year, with Williams’ office recommending the deletion of 110 positions. The cuts will result in the closure of the Narvaez Adult Mental Health Clinic, the Central Wellness and Benefits Center, and the Alexian Adult Narcotic Treatment Program in San Jose.

Williams blamed that pain not only on the federal cuts but changes to state revenues supporting behavioral health departments up and down California.

“That necessitated a top to bottom look at how we organize and deliver behavioral health services,” Williams said.

Despite these reductions, the county is also making significant new investments. Later this year, the county expects to open a new Behavioral Health Pavilion providing youth in crisis access to critical services. The will be fully staffed through the rearranging of existing county positions, Williams said.

Public Defender Damon Silver’s office also warned about how further cuts would worsen a decline in staff and morale, as well as staggering attorney caseloads greatly exceeding national standards.

Williams’ budget message recommends the deletion of three positions in Silver’s office, but none of them are attorneys who are constitutionally mandated to represent the region’s poorest residents in court.

The county has argued most of the 464 jobs recommended for deletion across all county departments are unfilled, and that the few employees whose positions were deleted have been transferred to other departments.

About $7.6 billion of total county spending would be earmarked for the health and hospital system, a $543 million increase from last year, if approved by the Board of Supervisors this summer. About $1.2 billion would go to public safety, a $35 million increase from last year. Children, senior and family services would see about $1.4 billion, a $76 million increase from last year.

“While this budget reflects very real fiscal challenges, it also underscores our commitment to protecting the core services our residents rely on every day,” Board of Supervisors President Otto Lee told San José Spotlight. “We will continue working collaboratively to navigate these difficult decisions, while keeping our most vulnerable communities at the center of every dollar we spend.”

Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X.