The Board of Supervisors is set Tuesday to approve a provisional budget for fiscal year 2025-26, which includes a targeted hiring freeze in Riverside County government to keep a lid on spending in the face of a budget gap.
The new fiscal year starts on July 1.
County CEO Jeff Van Wagenen told the board during budget hearings earlier this month that, while excess costs will require tapping $73 million from the county reserve pool, a number of funding necessities will have to be placed on hold for “just-in-time” consideration, as discretionary revenue builds throughout 2025-26.
“We’re recommending a hiring freeze for all departments that receive discretionary fund revenue,” the CEO said. “The freeze … will require (some departments) to shrink by attrition. Revenue is not decreasing across the system, but we are seeing it flatten and go down in certain areas.”
The last payroll pause to rein in spending occurred in 2016-17, and Van Wagenen said that action succeeded in saving the equivalent of $40 million to $50 million in Monday’s dollars.
The current $73 million deficit stems from “inflationary pressures, growing labor costs, unpredictable state and federal funding and necessary investments in aging infrastructure (that) strain our financial capacity,” the CEO said in the 500-plus-page budget book.
The aggregate budget for 2025-26 is $9.98 billion, compared to $9.58 billion in 2024-25. The Executive Office is predicting a reserve pool of $655 million. It had been projected at $728 million, but the total will have to be pared down to fix the gap.
Payrolls continue to consume almost half of outlays under the budget plan. The county employs 25,632 people on a regular or rotating temporary basis.
The following departments will be exempt from the freeze: Animal Services, Assessor-Clerk-Recorder, Auditor, Board staff, Public Social Services, District Attorney’s Office, Registrar of Voters, Riverside University Health System, Sheriff and Treasurer-Tax Collector.
Sheriff Chad Bianco complained during the budget hearing the proposed appropriation for sheriff’s operations “falls woefully short” of what would be needed. The sheriff’s department will end the current fiscal year $10 million in the red, and the proposed “flatline” spending plan for 2025-26 would put the agency $76 million in the hole, he said.
Unlike in previous budget hearings, the sheriff emphasized the need to make the Benoit Detention Center in Indio fully operational. Only one-third of the facility, which was completed in the previous decade, is functional. Undersheriff Don Sharp said about $32 million would be required to complete a two-phase activation of the jail in the coming fiscal year.
Other costs weighing on the department include ballooning labor and pension expenses stemming from the county’s agreement with the Riverside Sheriffs’ Association, the collective bargaining unit representing deputies, as well as court security expenses, the anticipated agreement with the Law Enforcement Management Unit, and internal service obligations, such as for maintenance of facilities.
The board obligated no funds in the budget to fully open the Benoit Detention Center.
District Attorney Mike Hestrin acknowledged during the hearing that his office continues to contend with heavy case loads, but the agency has remained within spending limits, and he expected to end the current fiscal year in the black.
He asked for an additional $1.4 million over what the Executive Office recommended in the office’s 2025-26 spending plan, and the board acceded.
Fire Department Chief Bill Weiser requested an “augmentation” of $6 million in the agency’s 2025-26 appropriations plan outlined by the Executive Office. The funding would be roughly split between equipment outlays and new staffing expenses. The board agreed to $1.85 million; the remaining needs will be met by just-in-time funding throughout the fiscal year.
More than two-thirds of the county budget is composed of programmed spending, including federal and state earmarks for specific uses, along with grants and related external source revenue. The board has little control over those dollars.
Direct property taxes remains the county’s largest source of discretionary income. It rose to $574 million in 2024-25, compared to $542.6 million in 2023-24, according to figures. The projection is for a $54 million, or 10%, jump in the next fiscal year.
There are more than three dozen county agenices. The Department of Public Social Services consistently requires the highest level of appropriations of any of them. For 2025-26, DPSS, which is an umbrella for a range of programs, including dependent children, foster care, adult protection and welfare benefits, sought $1.63 billion. It’s expected to receive the full amount.