Official Statement on Budget Inventory Cap Referral for 5/5 Board of Supervisors meeting

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors Meeting​, May 5, 2020

Supervisor Susan Ellenberg’s Full Comments on Item 15​

This referral is requesting Administration and County Counsel to report back with a Board Policy establishing a cap on budget inventory items of up to $500,000 per Supervisorial District for Fiscal Year 2020-21. 

There has been disagreement over this issue in the past. I understand that Supervisors want to make decisions independently and that we all have varying perspectives on when and how this inventory process should be used. But the extraordinary circumstances of COVID-19 have led to a level of budget volatility beyond anything the County has experienced.  

Therefore, it is exceedingly important that Supervisors provide an explicit cap to Inventory funding for Fiscal Year 2020-21. We don’t yet know what the 2020-2021 budget will look like. The projected deficit amount continues to grow. It would be imprudent of us to make recommendations for expenditures with no guard rails at a time that none of us knows what difficult decisions we will be asked to make with regard to other funds.

I know that many nonprofits in our County rely on inventory funding, and this year that need is greater than ever. Our Board will grapple with many hard choices this year and this is one of them.