Thumbnail photo by Aisling Bludworth
Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting.
Board Adopts Final 2026-27 Budget: County supervisors closed a 14-day public hearing and adopted the county’s final 2026-27 budget.
According to a staff report prepared by County Administrative Officer Neal Lopez and Auditor-Controller Clinton Schaad, the county’s overall recommended budget is $283,790,326 with a general fund budget of $53,614,829.
The Board adopted the final budget about three months after Lopez and Schaad informed them of a $9.6 million deficit in the general fund. On Sept. 8, they said that revenues came in that were higher than projected, including federal payment in lieu of tax allocations. The county’s 2025-26 ending fund balance was also $7.1 million, according to their staff report.
In addition to opening the public hearing two weeks ago, the Board of Supervisors allocated about $900,000 to a general fund reserve to help pay for the county’s pension and other post-employee benefit obligations. The Board also approved a $500,000 accelerated payment to address a deficit associated with the former Bar-O Boys Ranch.
At the Sept. 8 meeting, District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey questioned Lopez about the Bar-O Boys Ranch payment, saying she would have liked to see that information in their budget report.
North Coast Rape Crisis Team donation: Supervisors unanimously approved an up-to $24,000 donation from the North Coast Rape Crisis Team to the Dle Norte County Sheriff’s Office. The donation will enable the sheriff’s office to outfit a room with new furniture and new paint enabling the organization’s staff to provide services to those who are in custody.
The North Coast Rape Crisis Team’s donation would also pay for furniture in the DNSO’s briefing room, which will allow staff to use it for training.
Addressing accessibility: Parking lot improvements at the sheriff’s office and Veterans Memorial Hall are two projects SZS Engineering principal Syroun Z Sanossian highlighted when addressing Del Norte’s efforts to remove accessibility barriers at its facilities.
“This is the way barrier remediation under the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Disabled Persons Act is supposed to take place,” she said. “(Addressing) points of arrival first.”
The county contracted with Sanossian’s firm to evaluate access to their facilities, programs, services, policies and practices for people with disabilities. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the county’s ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan, or SETP. According to Sanossian, the plan discusses the steps the county needs to take to ensure people with disabilities can access to their programs, services and activities.
“The project we completed for the county is a mandate under federal law and under state law,” she said. “It is based on the Americans With Disabilities Act, which is a civil rights law. It’s called the integration mandate because it’s not about special privileges or special this or that, it’s about integrating people with disabilities into everyday life.”
In addition to addressing accessibility barriers within the DNSO’s parking lot and the parking lot at the Veterans Memorial Hall, accessibility will be a part of the jail renovation project and Pyke Field renovation project, Sanossian said. The Del Norte County Roads Division is also making sure the area’s sidewalks and other facilities such as bus stops are accessible to persons with disabilities, she said.
