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Tentative 2026-27 Riverside County budget leaves some agencies short
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NO. 279
Sheriff: 'Massive' unfilled budget request will require reducing positions By City News Service
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By Paul J. Young, City News Service
iverside County public safety and other agencies will not receive all of the appropriations they requested under the 2026-27 fiscal year budget tentatively approved by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday, though the county chief executive officer reiterated that impromptu spending requests will be considered anytime they're submitted. "The absence of funding (for some departments) does not mean there's an absence of need," CEO Jeff Van Wagenen told the board ahead of its 5-0 vote Tuesday to accept the spending blueprint and close hearings on the proposed budget. "With this budget, we're seeking to avoid layoffs in critical positions ... and also maintain prudent reserves and reduce the structural budget deficit." The proposed $10.34 billion budget is slated to be formally approved by the board during its June 23 meeting. "I suspect there's probably going to be more pain to come, and borrowing out of our reserves will deplete them," Supervisor Chuck Washington said. "We
VOL. VOL. 10, 12,
iverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told the Board of Supervisors on Monday that unmet budget requests in the 2026-27 fiscal year totaling $250 million would likely require him to slash hundreds of positions, most of them patrol deputies. "This is a massive number that we cannot recover from," Bianco told the board during the outset of budget hearings Monday at the County Administrative Center in
Riverside. "The proposed budget for us is absolutely disastrous." Bianco said roughly $138 million of the $250 million request that the sheriff's department submitted to the Executive Office for consideration, and wasn't accepted, amounts to "stay flat funding" to keep the agency about where it was in staffing during the current fiscal year. Without the board's approval of that figure, 622 patrol deputy
See Sheriff's budget Page 31 Riverside County CEO Jeff Van Wagenen speaks with the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday about the upcoming fiscal year's budget. | Photo courtesy of RivCo TV/YouTube
would be in a bad spot. We have to be careful. I'm in full support of the current (appropriations) plan." Van Wagenen suggested layoffs may be unavoidable in some departments, but he pointed out that the hiring freeze initiated last year will continue, along with "targeted" spending cuts and controls, to mitigate deficit spending. According to the CEO, "just-in-time" funding will be available to meet specific needs as the board engages in unending "budget management" throughout the coming fiscal year.
Following the daylong budget hearing Monday, the Executive Office returned to the board Tuesday with an additional $27.4 million in proposed allocations to at least partially satisfy the round of new requests from agencies. The augmented outlays include $8.5 million more for the county Sheriff's Department, $678,000 more for the District Attorney's Office and $250,000 more for the Department of Animal Services.
The increased allotment to the sheriff's department remains well below what Sheriff Chad Bianco insisted he needed to preclude deputy layoffs. He told the board Monday that without another $250 million, he'll end up slashing over 600 deputies from payrolls next year and afterward. "This is a massive number that we cannot recover from," he said. "The proposed budget for us is absolutely disastrous." Bianco said roughly $138
See Budget Page 16
Coachella shelves proposed data center, enacts moratorium; Indio establishes 45-day moratorium on data center applications
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By City News Service
temporary ban on data centers was in effect Friday in Coachella. During a special meeting June 4, the Coachella City Councilunanimously approved an urgency ordinance imposing a 45-day moratorium on applications
and terminated its agreement with Stronghold Power Systems Inc., which had planned to develop a data center in the city. The moratorium follows months of protests from communitymembers throughout the Coachella Valley citing concerns about
See Data centers Page 31
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