To: Board of Supervisors
From: Monica Nino, County Administrator
Report Title: Measure X Financial Updates
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
RECEIVE report on Measure X revenues and expenditures, and CONSIDER reallocating selected Measure X unspent balances to the Measure X unallocated funding pool
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Measure X revenues and expenditure appropriations under review have already been budgeted by prior Board of Supervisors actions; no net fiscal impact would be anticipated by reallocating prior appropriations.
BACKGROUND:
On November 3, 2020, voters in Contra Costa County approved Measure X, a Countywide, 20-year, half-cent sales tax. The ballot measure language stated the intent of Measure X as “to keep Contra Costa’s regional hospital open and staffed; fund community health centers, emergency response; support crucial safety-net services; invest in early childhood services; protect vulnerable populations; and for other essential county services.”
Between Fiscal Years 2021-2024, a total of $353.2M has been budgeted for anticipated Measure X revenues, and $286.8M in actual revenues has been collected through August 2023. There is a remaining revenue requirement of $66.5M needed to be collected by fiscal year end to fully fund the associated planned expenditures. Of the $353.3M in Measure X budgeted expenditure appropriations approved by the Board to date, $348.5M has been allocated to various one-time projects and ongoing programs, leaving an unallocated balance of $4.7M in ongoing appropriations available to be allocated. Actual revenues are projected by the County’s sales tax consultant to total $386.1M by FY23-24 year-end, leading to a projected surplus of one-time funds totaling $32.8M that will also ultimately be available for allocation. The total actual expenditures to date for Measure X allocations is $77.5M.
As part of the Measure X status updates and review of financials, three departments - County Administrator, Health Services, and the Office of the Sheriff - volunteered to return a total of approximately $896k to the Measure X unallocated pool, potentially leading to a new total of $5.6M available for allocation.
Two departments also propose to reallocate the balances between their existing allocations. The Contra Costa Fire Protection District proposes to reallocate the FY22-23 balance of $667k from the City of Pinole fire services contract to support the purchase of a ladder truck needed due to a new property development. These funds will be augmented by City of Pinole fire impact fees. CON Fire also proposes using the $1.67M FY22-23 balance from the Fire Station 81 operations and staffing budget to cover increased fire station construction costs.
The Employment and Human Services Department proposes to reapply the $4.3M balance from the youth centers operating budget and add $693k from the older adults allocation to combine into $5M in capital costs for a 3rd youth center. The department also proposes to reallocate a one-time $1M balance from the older adults allocation to the first year operations budget for the youth centers.
Additional details are provided in the Measure X Financial Updates presentation (Attachment A) and Measure X Revenues and Appropriations tables (Attachment B).
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
The existing Measure X allocations would remain unchanged.