Two members of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors are calling for the county to dip into reserves to offset cuts coming from Washington, D.C.
The proposal, which will be brought before the board on Tuesday, has two potential updates to the county’s reserve policy.
The supervisors on Thursday said the proposal – which already failed once – would protect the county’s citizens from steep cuts to health care and food assistance programs. President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is projected to cost the county more than $300 million each year in additional costs or lost revenue.
According to Terra Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe, nearly 400,000 San Diegans risk losing health care, and 100,000 could lose food assistance.
“We can’t let San Diego be dragged into a fiscal storm by Washington,” Lawson-Remer said in a statement. “This reform is our bridge – protecting health care, food and public safety now, while we work toward long-term solutions to keep San Diegans healthy, fed and safe.”
The reserve policy updates to be considered include:
Modifying the reserve target calculation to two months of operating expenses only, reducing the target from $973 million to $945 million, and Recognizing all locally controlled reserves, not just “unassigned” funds.Both of these changes, which the supervisors say follow best practices, would open up around $380 million in “flexible, board-controlled reserves that could help stabilize services in the face of federal or state cuts, or during an economic recession over the next four fiscal years,” according to Lawson-Remer and Montgomery Steppe.
“This is about smart fiscal governance,” Montgomery Steppe said. “We’re not touching long-term savings for frivolous expenses; we’re making sure that when families need us most, we have the tools to respond.”
This follows a nearly identical proposal in April which failed, 2-1 with one abstention.
Lawson-Remer said the previous vote “wasn’t just a procedural setback – it was a choice to tie our hands while Washington walks away from its responsibilities.”
The results of July’s special election to fill the seat vacated by Nora Vargas has changed the possible outcome. Newly elected Supervisor Paloma Aguirre is a Democrat like Lawson-Remer and Montgomery Steppe, though the board is officially nonpartisan.
Joel Anderson, who abstained, and Jim Desmond, who voted against the April proposal, are Republicans. Desmond called the vote “a win for taxpayers and fiscal responsibility.”
The renewed proposal would set up guardrails for using the reserves, only allowing funds to be accessed in tough economic times and requiring an additional vote by the board.
Lawson-Remer and Montgomery Steppe say no more than 25% of the newly available reserves would be available in a single fiscal year.
Hence then, the article about board of supervisors to again take up proposal to tap into reserves offset federal cuts was published today ( ) and is available on Times of San Diego ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Board of supervisors to again take up proposal to tap into reserves, offset federal cuts )
Also on site :