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The County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously passed its $7.35 billion budget, which goes into effect July 1.
Priorities in the new budget were largely focused on addressing the region’s homelessness crisis, mental health services and adding more county staffers. Chair Nathan Fletcher called it the region’s “most progressive” budget yet.
From the climate to housing, here’s what the new budget will do.
- Add over 1,000 county staff in behavioral health, services for older adults and the disabled, Calfresh and Medi-Cal, Child Welfare Services and more.
- Fund eviction prevention programs, new shelters, affordable homes and outreach workers
- Crack down on Ghost Guns and further enforce safe gun storage
- Put nearly $60 million toward the environment, including decarbonization, reducing wildfire risk through roadside vegetation management, preventing pollution from entering the county’s storm drains and improving the Tijuana River Valley
- Invest in alternatives to jail for people who are poor, sick or homeless, and fund healthcare in County jails
“It is a budget that the people of San Diego County can count on to support them,” Fletcher said in the news release. “This is the most progressive and working family focused budget passed during my time here as a member of the Board of Supervisors.”
Click here to read more about what else the county budget prioritizes. Want to understand how exactly the county’s budget process works? We break it down in this episode of San Diego 101.