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# Supervisors Accept Q1 Budget Report, Warn It Was Balanced by Defunding Roads
- URL: https://www.mendolocal.news/supervisors-accept-q1-budget-report-warn-it-was-balanced-by-defunding-roads/
- Published: 2026-11-03T19:29:05.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T19:29:05.000Z
- Description: Supervisors Ted Williams and John Haschak warned that the county's balanced books rest on years of underfunding roads and deferring building repairs.
- Author: Elise Cox
- Tags: Mendocino County, News

UKIAH, Calif. — The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors accepted its first-quarter budget report Monday and signed off on changes to the adopted budget, but two supervisors used the occasion to warn that the county's balanced books rest on years of starving its roads and buildings — and that catching up may eventually require asking voters for money.

The board voted unanimously to accept the Fiscal Year 2026-27 first-quarter report and adopt a resolution amending the adopted budget. Supervisor Ted Williams (D5) moved the action and Supervisor John Haschak (D3) seconded it.

The report covers July through September, the first three months of the budget year. The county's Executive Office told the board the general fund is on track to finish the year within budget, and that the net effect of the quarter's adjustments on the general fund is about $1,400 — money the county will hold until a mid-year review to see whether departments need it.

The adopted budget the board approved in June totaled $530.3 million across all funds — a decrease of $58.2 million from the prior year's projections — with a general fund of $242.8 million. It was balanced using $2.60 million in one-time money for one-time costs and funded about 1,021 positions, roughly 42 fewer than the year before. The report describes a county that has run a structural deficit for years, squeezed by stagnant tourism-tax revenue, declining sales tax and flat state realignment funding. While[ online sales continue to rise](https://www.census.gov/retail/ecommerce.html?ref=mendolocal.news), a significant portion of Mendocino County's online sales tax is allocated to other counties.

Much of the discussion centered on a reserve policy the board adopted in March. Under it, a single $14 million general reserve was split into three accounts: a contingency reserve, now holding a little over $8 million; a rainy day reserve, at about $3 million; and an infrastructure and systems reserve, also at about $3 million. Supervisor Madeline Cline (D1) asked the chief executive officer to walk the public through the change, calling it a path toward long-term stability.

Williams said he was ready to support the report but did not believe the budget was truly balanced. "There's likely a cost to respond to crime that's not being posted in this quarter that'll show up later in the year," he said, adding that "in the bigger picture of are we maintaining a balanced budget, we're probably not — we just don't, we're just not recognizing it today."

He went further on roads. "The only way we got here, that we were able to put that money into reserves, is by defunding the roads," Williams said, calling it the result of decisions "decades in the making." He argued the reserve money "should be used right now for the roads, because they're getting worse. We're not keeping up."

He also questioned keep a funds in reserve for a "rainy day," given the deteriorating condition of county infrastructure. "I can see the public looking at this and asking if this isn't a rainy day, what will be a rainy day?"

Haschak agreed and added capital projects to the ledger. The county is "digging a hole deeper" by deferring maintenance like roof replacements, he said, and the backlog — some of it not even in the budget — raises long-term costs. Fixing the roads, he said, will likely require "bringing a tax measure to the people at some point," because even half the reserves would be "a minor portion of what we really need." He asked staff for a full capital-improvement list with cost totals.

Chief Executive Officer Sara Pierce said she would bring back a capital-needs report with deferred-maintenance costs and roads information at the mid-year report in March, along with a three-year forecast that the first quarter cannot yet support because the prior fiscal year has not closed.

An Auditor's-office representative told the board the prior fiscal year should close by the end of the month, with field work beginning in January and audited financial statements expected in mid-March, ahead of the March 31 deadline.

The budget calendar now turns to a December fee hearing, the mid-year report in March, a third-quarter report in May, and FY 2027-28 budget hearings in June.