In the face of dwindling federal contributions and an atmosphere of financial unpredictability, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, in a strategic move, passed a $13.7 billion budget for the fiscal year 2025-26 aimed at safeguarding core safety-net services, as reported by Santa Clara County News. The approved budget charts a path that clings to vital health care and social services amidst looming potential slashes to Medicaid, Medicare, and food assistance programs expected to strike hard at millions of Americans.
The County's financial blueprint weathers the storm of legislative cutbacks potentially handed down by Congress, an undermining of federal grant funding, and uncertain state contributions, with federal funds currently pegging at nearly one-third of county revenues and state cuts to Medi-Cal threatening to destabilize the county’s public health infrastructure further. Board of Supervisors President Otto Lee underscored the budget's alignment with the County's commitment to its values and residents, telling Santa Clara County News, “In developing the 2025-26 Adopted Budget, the County leaned more firmly than ever into its core values and the critical safety-net services it provides.”
The financial plan for the upcoming year holds its ground by prioritizing programs for the vulnerable, curtailing the impact on public servants who deliver these programs, and upholding services pinpointed for cuts by the federal government, including initiatives aimed at the immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities.
Additionally, local funding will replace the imperiled federal dollars, amounting to $59.6 million, to ensure consistency in supportive housing, public health, and behavioral health services, effectively skirting the federal administration's control over critical service reductions, a deflective response that showcases a community determined to adhere to its own benevolent compass in the wake of austerity measures. County Executive James R. Williams lauded the budget's forward-thinking approach, stating to Santa Clara County News, “The Board’s decision to act now to realign local General Fund dollars to backfill certain anticipated federal funding losses will help prevent greater impacts to critical services that so many in our community rely on.”
