MONO SALARIES UP ~12%
The Mono County Board of Supervisors discussed adjustments to the fiscal year 2024-2025 budget in a special session held Aug 8, 2024.
Housing, as always, was a major topic of discussion.
Originally, the budget proposed setting aside approximately $1 million to bolster the county’s general reserve and economic stabilization fund.
However, several board members suggested reallocating this amount to the housing fund instead to prioritize addressing the county’s housing issue over increasing the reserve percentage.
The board reached a consensus to redirect the $1 million to the housing fund, along with additional savings from policy item adjustments.
Aside from housing, the board discussed the establishment of four new positions within county administration and public works departments.
The overall expenditure for the salaries and benefits for the proposed FY 2024-25 budget is $56.1 million, compared to the $50.2 million allocated in the adopted budget of FY 2023-24.
That’s a near 12% increase.
Among the positions added was an initiative to turn the Solid Waste Superintendent position into an Environmental and Transportation Engineer.
This position, costing $95,650 for the current year and $191,300 annually, aims to advance solid waste projects and address environmental aspects of transportation needs.
The Environmental and Transportation Engineer would focus on getting the solid waste program up to speed with the environmental processing which is now required by CalRecycle.
The board showed general support for this change and have already begun recruiting for it.
Another proposal involved adding a Project Manager to the Public Works Department, with an annual cost of $103,743.
Board members expressed strong support for the new position, with its intended purpose to be managing the new jail project and other public works initiatives.
The board also supported a proposal for a new Chief Information Security Officer, with an annual salary of $163,868.
The board supported the addition of the position, as long as it was in-county and in-person.
Lastly, the board reviewed a proposal for a Special District Liaison position, costing $78,624 for three quarters of the year and $147,756 annually.
This role is intended to improve coordination with special districts.
The board generally supported the position, but some members felt it was premature to allocate funds without further analysis of the districts needs.
In terms of increased operational costs, the Human Resources Department requested $104,000 for new software, which would increase annual costs by $40,000.
The board supported this investment, which is aimed at improving labor law compliance.
The board also considered a proposal for a new system to process parking tickets, including an initial cost of $15,020 and annual ongoing costs of more than $3,000.
The Mono County Sheriff’s office currently has no ability to issue parking tickets, but said it needed to enforce it at critical areas including the June Lake and Twin Lake areas.
The program involves handheld devices which print out tickets.
Some board members raised concerns about the system’s effectiveness in applying new fine updates, which the Sheriff’s office said it would look into.
The board discussed allocating $49,000 to support the air travel into Mammoth Lakes and Bishop, but did not reach consensus because it was not clear the entire county would benefit.
There were three external programs which asked for funding.
The board supported an annual $15,000 contribution to the Eastern Sierra Green Business Program.
The Mono Arts Council presented a one-time ask of $20,000 to support student art education and the Whitebark Institute asked for $150,000 over 3 years to support a staff position dedicated to financial management and oversight of projects that enhance wildfire resilience throughout Mono County.
