Supervisors on Tuesday approved a 2020-21 county budget that was balanced largely due to one-time COVID-19 relief dollars.

The $2.78 million Del Norte County will receive in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) act dollars will offset costs the Public Health Branch incurred to address the emergency as well as to support public safety, County Administrative Officer Jay Sarina told supervisors.

“The one-time funding for the CARES Act offset costs associated with COVID-19 and assists us in getting balanced,” Sarina said. “It is not all of what it takes to get to a balanced budget. You can speak with individual departments. We sat down with them and we go through them line-by-line in order to make what their needs are in order to provide existing services and also tightening up where ever we can.”

Del Norte County’s general fund is balanced at about $31.8 million, according to the final budget report. The county’s total budget is $145.669 million. Revenue to the general fund has increased by $4.47 million since fiscal year 2017 while expenditures have increased by about $5.2 million since then.

According to the budget report, the 2020-21 budget has been balanced through leaving positions vacant as well as reductions in services and supplies.

When he initially presented the final 2020-21 budget, Sarina told supervisors that transiency occupancy tax revenue had been down by about 17 percent over the last two quarters, but it appears to be bouncing back.

“If we don’t go back into a shutdown we should be looking at a relatively standard year,” Sarina told supervisors on Sept. 8.

Sales tax revenue came in as projected, showing that, locally, people are spending the excess money they have, Sarina said. Meanwhile, property taxes continue to be robust, he said.

“It will be interesting to see as we go over the next several months, how this pandemic has affected people that do continue to work and have income,” he said. “Less people are traveling outside of the U.S. and, it appears, outside the state of California, or at least the general area. I’m curious to see the purchase of vehicles, especially recreational vehicles, and how that will affect us as we go through this next year.”

Del Norte County gets about 19 cents on the dollar for property taxes and about one cent on the dollar for sales taxes, Sarina said.

The 2020-21 budget also shows that the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority has made a $96,000 loan payment to the county as it relates to its terminal project at the Del Norte County Regional Airport.

Just before he and his colleagues adopted the 2020-21 budget, District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard made a point to note that it was balanced with one-time dollars.

“If it weren’t for some of the federal dollars that came down through COVID, that would not have happened,” Howard said, advocating on behalf of Measure R, Del Norte County’s proposed 1 percent sales tax increase for public safety. “We are going to continue to face, as the years come, these fiscal tightenings of our belt that absolutely 100 percent impacts every bit of our general fund.”

Crescent City has moved forward with a similar sales tax measure for public safety. Measure S also includes a 1 percent sales tax increase if it passes in November. Both taxes are expected to generate about $1.2 million for each agency.

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• 2020-21 County Budget

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