[{"_1":2,"_86":-5,"_87":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,74],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":56,"_73":56},"mediaId",6512466,"mediaKeyId","5113363-3a7740ba65a5053ea04719e18a1aea25","parentId",5113363,"title","Kings County Board adopts FY 2025–26 recommended budget and schedules final hearings","audioSeconds",4947,"startMs",368000,"endMs",5315000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=5113363-3a7740ba65a5053ea04719e18a1aea25&start=368&end=5315","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5113363-3a7740ba65a5053ea04719e18a1aea25/thumbnail_368000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6512466/Kings-County/California/Kings-County-Board-adopts-FY-202526-recommended-budget-and-schedules-final-hearings","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6512466-b3e111c630d36e9eeea02f1a75c40ed8/orig.mp4?Expires=1771197215&Signature=kaNf7-N-NpV8SXxbP-yp6h~Fvu3kJbH0drLfh58MphBbVP-CwuYMiCYkiNEWjWd8IOxLBs1ORtTVFyxj695GEFPoyhmJSHJr6RbQ9zfMmDwOWtleBkNMBPB6iHMsNZpn-78J1cJhz8fRLJVudSaGzVE-nhVnLM4IEwUyMhky6p8BvUk77ZPEj6I8CkONdVmQ049QH5dc5TYrotBPNSjhNE~nXNFKPkaE89NyP-dnAjH0uuUVCS8HLRQXGVgzMgtQ9knhO4lCHpsF1FK5kKt5Nx-hs8h7~Rah7P9QQtVGGxRqMp59HWT-zY7jVz3-vZI6uNJ5knALS4LaH91fgnaYdA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","","date","2025-07-01T19:03:41Z","article","The Kings County Board of Supervisors on June 17 adopted a recommended fiscal year 2025'26 budget of $571,407,565 and set final budget hearings to begin Aug. 25, with a final board action planned in mid'September.

The recommended budget includes a general fund of $404,282,120 and proposes 1,694.51 full'time equivalent positions, a net decrease of 15 FTE from last year. County Administrative Officer Kerrio Martinez told the board the net staffing reduction is a step the county is taking to improve long'term financial sustainability.

The budget matters because it sets spending authority for county departments on July 1 and frames decisions the board must make before the books close in August. Martinez and Deputy County Administrative Officer Matthew Boyette told supervisors rising retirement and benefit costs, constrained revenue growth and one'time funding that will not recur are key pressures shaping the plan.

\"The overall recommended budget totals $571,407,565, which is about $10,800,000 more than last year's adopted budget,\" Boyette said during the presentation. He and Martinez emphasized that county salaries and benefits total roughly $275 million, nearly half the county's operating budget, and that CalPERS pension contribution changes remain a principal fiscal challenge.

Martinez told the board that the county's required CalPERS contributions are changing: \"required contributions have increased from 39.8% to 42% for safety employees, but have decreased from 25% to 23% for non'safety employees for fiscal year [25'26].\" The administrators said the increase for safety employees will continue to put pressure on the general fund.

The recommended budget relies in part on one'time funding. Boyette said the budget builds a $10,660,000 contingency but that about $8.5 million of that contingency is composed of one'time dollars, including roughly $2.8 million remaining in a pension obligation bond fund and approximately $4.6 million in Project Homekey FEMA reimbursements. Without the one'time sources, the county's natural contingency would be roughly $2.1 million, well below the Government Finance Officers Association's guidance, Boyette said.

The recommended budget also shows an estimated fund balance of $37,120,000 and projects current'year general fund revenue of about $367 million. Boyette warned departments asked for roughly $9.3 million more than available revenue in their initial requests and that the administration had worked with departments to reduce spending to present a balanced recommended budget.

Several program areas were flagged as drivers of increased net county cost. Boyette said the Human Services Agency's net county cost has risen about 22.66% since last fiscal year and will require additional county support next year. He also called out increases in liability and self'insurance costs, public safety overtime and information technology expenses.

The county also faces several pending or uncertain cost pressures the presentation identified as not fully built into the recommended budget: renegotiations with the county's prosecutors and fire unions (contracts that became out of date July 1), potential new costs from the county's recent assumption of responsibility for the Mid Kings River Groundwater Sustainability Agency (Mid Kings River GSA), and the end of some pandemic'era one'time funding streams such as ARPA.

Regarding the GSA, Boyette said the county will need a local funding mechanism to avoid the GSA becoming a larger draw on the general fund and noted that a Proposition 218 election or other local funding would be the typical route to create a dedicated revenue source for groundwater management costs.

Board members and department leaders pressed for more detail on several items during the presentation. Sheriff Dave Robinson described a growing unreimbursed cost associated with court security detail for the county'operated jail and court services, which the administration initially projected at about $500,000 for the year. Robinson said his office is working to reduce that impact and believes it may come down to about $100,000 when final accounting is complete.

Several supervisors asked the administration to continue working with departments on mid'year estimates and to present more frequent updates as the budget moves from recommended to final. Boyette said closing the county books in late July or early August will produce firmer figures for the final budget hearings.

The board voted unanimously to adopt the recommended budget as the county's working budget for FY 2025'26 and to schedule final budget hearings beginning Monday, Aug. 25, 2025 at 10 a.m. The board was shown a timeline leading to a final budget resolution and printed budget books to be returned to the board in mid September for final adoption and submission to the state controller.

The administration recommended and the board approved a set of programmatic staffing changes included in the recommended budget: a net reduction of 15 FTE countywide, targeted reductions and reorganizations in county counsel, job training, child support and other departments, and the unfunding of 17 position allocations in public health.

Martinez told the board the recommended budget \"is a significant step in the right direction\" to preserve long'term sustainability but cautioned that the contingency is considerably supplemented by one'time funds that will not be available next fiscal year.

The board approved the recommended budget by the following action: a motion to adopt the fiscal year 2025'26 recommended budget and schedule final hearings passed on a 5'0 vote.

Looking ahead, Boyette told the board final budget hearings are set for Aug. 25 (a Monday), with the final budget resolution and printed budget book to be presented at a mid'September meeting to meet the state controller's Oct. 2 deadline for county budget submission.

Votes at a glance: the board approved the recommended FY 2025'26 budget as presented and set final hearings to commence Aug. 25, 2025 (vote 5'0).","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Kings County Board of Supervisors Meeting (06/17/2025)","oneSentenceSummary","The Kings County Board of Supervisors on June 17 adopted a recommended fiscal year 2025'26 budget of $571,407,565 and set final budget hearings to begin Aug. 25, with a final board action planned in mid'September.","taxTitle","Kings County, California","taxId",4029,"location","headline","shortSummary",{"_33":75,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":76,"_41":77,"_43":78,"_45":79,"_47":80,"_49":81,"_51":82,"_53":83,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":84,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":85,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":56,"_73":56},6512461,"Board formalizes FY 2025'26 jail booking fee calculation at $204 per booking",244,7416000,7660000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5113363-3a7740ba65a5053ea04719e18a1aea25&start=7416&end=7660","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5113363-3a7740ba65a5053ea04719e18a1aea25/thumbnail_7416000.jpg","/articles/6512461/Kings-County/California/Board-formalizes-FY-202526-jail-booking-fee-calculation-at-204-per-booking","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6512461-c950a0e03c4dc85461764c5f9a1b2360/orig.mp4?Expires=1771197215&Signature=UCkbqkULOBLoHdDy3ZAnHz3NcNrX89oldcrovBBClWHXqL0vi21VEhL~gya-lXJa86VR1VVCdcXTnfZjPG2K4sHMjW3OZANMZT9Tdv29EL4XUE7Iag4abtVJVUfcuXKH6jEcuzpiGqeEDrSEYLOtyYgqffXtqu-tYm~APCw1VJO2yV7twWKbfg6CA6JUB8m20P04o1dUc4PRrhkeTP9STzSTIt7HPVR1n36iJydLvmmb0t74uImgKlfQZ4PbEBbBjTg~LkKyMkdS422jZC9CBpLORTIAmVIKzrRXRbKN1k-dgZ5FKC8R3-fo7chFFEb3D61YKZaUbTOm~2S6t2AOAg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Kings County on June 17 formally recorded a calculated jail booking fee rate of $204 per booking for fiscal year 2025'26 and introduced an ordinance to adopt that figure if state funding authority changes.

Assistant Finance Director Rob Knutson told the Board of Supervisors the rate must be calculated and set annually under California law even though the state currently provides a statutory allocation that supplanted local fee authority in 2011. Knutson said the $204 figure is an increase of $19 from last year's $185 rate, driven by higher employee salaries and benefits and rising utilities and information technology costs.

\"The fee calculated for fiscal year 2526 is $204 per booking,\" Knutson said during the introduction. He also noted that Assembly Bill 1869 removed the county's ability to add the charge directly to a convicted defendant's fines and fees and that the county has received a statutory annual allocation instead.

Knutson asked the board to consider introducing an ordinance establishing the rate and to waive the reading. The board opened the public hearing, heard no public comment and voted to close the hearing and direct staff to return with the ordinance for further action. The motion passed on a 5'0 vote.

Knutson said that if the state'provided statutory allocation were to be eliminated in the future, the county could charge the cities half of the established booking fee for bookings they deliver to the county jail, per state law.

Action taken: the board introduced the jail booking fee ordinance for FY 2025'26 at $204 per booking and directed staff to return for final action; vote 5'0.","Kings County staff calculated a jail booking fee of $204 for FY 2025'26, an increase of $19 from the prior year. The board introduced an ordinance to formalize the rate and voted to close the public hearing and return the item for further direction.","actionData","errors"]

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Kings County Board adopts FY 2025–26 recommended budget and schedules final hearings

Board formalizes FY 2025'26 jail booking fee calculation at $204 per booking