Board Supports Supervisor Fletcher’s Nearly $40 Million in Budget Changes

Supervisor Fletcher Votes for 2020-21 County Budget  

This afternoon Supervisor Fletcher voted in favor of the 2020-21 County Budget, noting it included $38,770,000 of funding in changes proposed by Supervisor Fletcher. Supervisor Fletcher released the following statement at the conclusion of today’s budget deliberations. 

“We made this budget better by working with the community to drive significant changes reflecting our values and their needs to ensure more equity, opportunity and fairness, particularly for those impacted by COVID-19. Even though all of our budget amendments were adopted, I know we have a long way to go in ensuring a county government that truly serves our community and I am committed to the ongoing work.” 

Budget Wins Championed by Supervisor Fletcher and The Community include:  

Budget amendments proposed by Supervisor Fletcher and adopted: 

• $24 million for rental assistance to help individuals and families dealing with financial hardship because of COVID-19. Income eligible applicants from unincorporated areas of the County, and those from cities that do not have available rental assistance resources are eligible to apply. 
• $1 million to expand the scope of an existing legal support program with the Legal Aid Society of San Diego to provide landlord/tenant counseling to help prevent evictions.

• $5.4 million for the County to provide mental health, substance misuse and care coordination services at permanent supportive housing locations the City of San Diego and San Diego Housing Commission are pursuing to transform hotels and motels into housing for up to 400 San Diegans who have been staying at the temporary homeless shelter at the San Diego Convention Center. These services will keep hundreds of people off the street, and keep them in stable housing situations.  

• $2.5 for staff to develop a plan to make sure information being disseminated from the County to San Diegans is culturally competent and translated in multiple threshold languages.  
• $2.0 million to make sure students from low-income families have access to the Internet for distancing learning during the school year. 
• $2 million for income replacement stipend for workers who get COVID-19  and are not eligible for sick pay or other benefits through their place of employment, if they stay home.   
• $620,000 for a pilot program to waive fees for residential wind projects, EV charging systems, energy storage and upgrade.
• $550,000 for air quality monitors, purifiers, and data analysis for our AB617 environmental justice communities.
• $500,000 to create a green streets master plan for public and private infrastructure projects in unincorporated areas.
• $200,000 for a weatherization program to help homeowners reduce energy costs of households in unincorporated areas. 

Budget items promoted by Supervisor Fletcher and adopted: 

• $5 million county-wide network of Mobile Crisis Response Teams expanded by Supervisor Fletcher on June 23. 
• $5 million dedicated to the Office of Equity created by Supervisor Fletcher on June 23.
• 3 new positions to expand capacity of CLERB to investigate incidents on June 23.  
• 14 new positions to expand capacity of the Office of the Public Defender.
• 9 new positions for Probation to expand support rehabilitation of individuals in county custody or on probation. 
• 1 Public Health Services new position and 1 Department of Environmental Health position both dedicated to Enhancing Water Quality monitoring to ensure daily water quality monitoring of impacted communities. 

• 80 positions being reassigned from HHSA Administrative Support and other areas to expand the reach of Public Health Services, including: epidemiologists and pharmacist positions.