Supervisors officially opened the public hearings Monday for San Diego County’s proposed $4.97 billion fiscal year 2013-14 budget.
The annual budget deliberations opened with presentations from community groups seeking grants from the County’s hotel tax revenues. The Board will open the public comment period for the rest of the proposed budget Wednesday and conclude public testimony June 19.
Supervisors are expected to approve a new budget by June 25.
County staff members introduced the two-year proposed budget at the Board’s May 7 meeting. The plan would spend roughly $4.97 billion in 2013-14 — about 2.5 percent more than the 2012-13 budget — and $4.81 billion in 2014-15.
The County of San Diego provides services that touch nearly all residents who live in the county. Just some of those include collecting property taxes; operating the San Diego County’s Sheriff’s Department, which provides police protection to both the unincorporated areas and nine of the county’s 18 cities; overseeing child support payments for divorced families; investigating suspicious deaths from the medical examiner’s office; providing health and social services; running dozens of parks and 33 libraries; providing animal control and public health services; inspecting restaurants; monitoring beach water quality; and overseeing disaster preparedness.
