County Reserve Funds to Cover Employee Bonuses

San Diego County supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday to dip into rainy-day funds to cover millions of dollars in bonuses for county employees.

Republican Supervisors Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond opposed the staff proposal, which did not require the four votes typically needed to pull from reserves.

Our Lisa Halverstadt broke the news last week on county officials’ proposal to retroactively cover the bonuses using an accounting scheme reliant on unspent behavioral health funds and rainy-day funds freed up by a reserve policy update earlier this year. Officials have promised the move won’t impact behavioral health services or funding.

Democratic supervisors unanimously backed the proposal that was among 20 recommended budget adjustments on the docket Tuesday. Anderson and Desmond unsuccessfully urged a separate vote on the pitch to pull from reserves.

Desmond criticized the move his colleagues ultimately approved as “reckless and dangerous.”

“I don’t like the shell game of avoiding a four-vote item by allocating the spending via Behavioral Health and then backfilling it with reserves,” Desmond said. “It’s confusing and less transparent, I think, to the public.”

Before the board discussion, county Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Caroline Smith said county staff were acting prudently and that there had been misunderstandings about the proposal.

“I can assure you that the recommendations before your board today have no negative impact whatsoever on the budget or service delivery of our county departments, specifically that of Behavioral Health Services,” Smith said. “It is the priority of staff to be transparent with your board and the public and we will be clear when there are recommendations that impact service delivery of any kind.”