Commentary by Lee Tannenbaum (April 24, 2025) — If your family took a break from paying into retirement, used up federal relief, and scraped together spare change from the couch just to pay monthly bills—would you call that stable? That’s what El Dorado County is doing with its soon-to-be-adopted budget, and it’s not sustainable.
To close the gap in a structurally unbalanced budget, the County is relying on $12.6 million in one-time funds. This patchwork includes:
- – A “Retiree Health Rate Holiday” that suspends contributions to retiree health benefits for six months of FY 2023–24 and all of FY 2024–25.
- – Use of ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds for short-term community investments, such as park improvements and a navigation center.
- – Other temporary financial sources with no long-term replacement.
While these maneuvers free up money for now, they also defer obligations to future budgets. These are not savings—they’re IOUs. And with core revenues like property tax growth slowing, the road ahead only gets bumpier.
In the case of the retiree health rate holiday, departments are not required to repay the suspended contributions. The County is instead drawing from the Retiree Health Fund balance to cover the costs. While this avoids creating a new repayment obligation, it also drains reserves set aside for future retiree healthcare needs. That may mean higher costs down the road to keep the program solvent.
At the same time, costs keep rising, especially from obligations created by County Charter Section 504. Section 504 was originally passed by voters in 1995 to ensure that Deputy Sheriffs received competitive salaries. Over time, however, it expanded to include other high-ranking positions—such as the Chief Administrative Officer, County Counsel, and Public Defender—resulting in automatic salary increases tied to external agency averages, regardless of the County’s financial condition.
What began as a policy to attract and retain law enforcement officers has become a runaway cost escalator that now impacts some of the highest-paid positions in the County. These increases are locked in by ordinance and can’t be stopped without voter action.
And it’s not just salaries. County staff have acknowledged that rising costs in insurance premiums, retirement contributions, utilities, and other operating expenses are also driving the budget higher. These pressures are real—but so are the questions taxpayers deserve to have answered. Have alternative benefit providers been explored? Have health insurance and liability coverage plans been competitively shopped to ensure taxpayers are getting the best value? Are departmental budgets being reviewed for outdated or redundant expenditures?
This strategy may balance a spreadsheet today, but it sets the stage for a deeper hole tomorrow. It’s classic “kicking the can down the road”—delaying hard choices while fiscal risks grow.
The El Dorado County Taxpayers Association believes residents deserve better. That starts with a public, five-year fiscal recovery plan—a real roadmap to reduce dependency on one-time fixes and rebuild long-term sustainability. This should include cost containment, smarter labor policy, and a realistic view of service levels.
El Dorado County can’t afford to wait until the IOUs come due. A sustainable budget isn’t built on skipping obligations—it’s built on discipline and forward-thinking leadership.
Let’s stop borrowing from tomorrow to pay for today. It’s time to plan ahead
