REPORT TO SHASTA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

BOARD MEETING DATE:  March  28, 2017
CATEGORY:  Consent - Law and Justice-9.

SUBJECT:

Budget Amendment

Supervisorial District No. :  All

DEPARTMENT CONTACT:  Tennille Doerschel, Accountant Auditor, (530) 245-6165

STAFF REPORT APPROVED BY:  Mike Lindsey, CFO

RECOMMENDATION

Approve a budget amendment increasing appropriations by $40,999 in the Sheriff's Dispatch budget to be offset by use of Public Safety Fund balance to align the Dispatch budget with projected expenditures.

SUMMARY

A budget amendment to increase appropriations, offset by use of Public Safety Fund balance is needed to align the Sheriff’s Dispatch Budget to projected expenditures.

DISCUSSION

When the requested Sheriff’s Dispatch budget was submitted during the Fiscal Year 2016/17 budget process, the requested appropriation for the Sheriff’s Office contribution to the Shasta Area Safety Communication Agency (SHASCOM) was based on an estimate of FY 2016/17 costs. The Actual contribution was determined later and insufficient appropriations exist in the Sheriff’s Dispatch budget for this expense. Additionally, projected use of Sheriff’s Dispatch services by the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office and the Shasta County Probation Department through fiscal year end are trending under the amounts included in the requested budget and an increase to unallocated expenditures is requested to balance projected actual expenses to the adjusted budget.

ALTERNATIVES

The Board may decline to approve this recommendation at this time, may request additional information from staff, and/or may choose to fund the requested increase in appropriations from another fund source.

OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT

The County Administrative Office has reviewed this recommendation. The Auditor-Controller’s Office will process the budget amendment if approved by the Board.

FINANCING

The Sheriff’s Dispatch budget is often not set in time for inclusion of the actual contribution in the requested budget. For FY 2015/16 appropriations for the SHASCOM contribution were greater than actual expenditures by $66,565 and resulted in a commensurate reduction in use of requested Public Safety Fund balance. FY 2016/17 is the inverse and will require an additional $38,799 in appropriations for the SHASCOM contribution. The requested increase of $2,200 to balance budgeted SHASCOM usage by the other Public Safety fund participants is a net zero change to the Public Safety fund; i.e. the reduction in cost applied in the Dispatch budget is matched by a reduction in expense in the District Attorney and Probation Department budgets. There is no additional General Fund impact with approval of this recommendation.