To: Board of Supervisors
From: County Administrative Office
Agenda Section: Departmental
Vote Requirement: Majority
SUBJECT:
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2025 General Fund Five-Year Financial Forecast and Strategic Plan Update
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RECOMMENDATION(S):
Recommendation
That the Board of Supervisors:
1. Receive the staff report and presentation on the financial forecast for the county General Fund for the next five years and update on the implementation of the 2024-2028 Strategic Plan.
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STRATEGIC PLAN:
This action supports the following areas of your Board's Strategic Plan.
Area of Focus: Core Services/Other
Strategic Plan Category: 9999 - Core Services/Other
DISCUSSION:
Financial Forecast
The County Administrative Office (CAO) provides the Board quarterly budget reports. Beginning in 2013, the CAO developed a five-year financial forecast report intended to provide the Board and public information on trends in anticipated revenues and expenditures for the county's major funds for the next five fiscal years. In 2018, the CAO expanded the report to forecast for seven years, rather than five years. In 2020, at the onset of COVID-19 and in the midst of fiscal uncertainty, the financial forecast was put on hold until such time when the finance system could provide more reliable information. Due to the hard work of the Auditor-Controller and staff, the county's external audits are almost caught up to current and the available financial data is more reliable.
In this first year of reimplementation of the financial forecast, it is limited to the General Fund. Your Board has been working to close a significant structural budget deficit in the General Fund in the last two fiscal years, $15.1 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024-25, which is down from $18.4 million in FY 2023-24.
Ongoing financial uncertainties require financial planning beyond the current single year budget process. Budget decisions made in one year can have significant impacts on resources that are availa...
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