County officials warned the Board of Supervisors the county may have to spend as much as $3 billion resolving claims of sexual abuse at the county's facilities.
The Board of Supervisors weighed in Tuesday on the spending plan. The budget, if approved by the board in its current form this summer, would funnel hundreds of millions toward services that aim to get people off the streets and out of jail., most of it coming from money generated through Measure H, a voter-approved sales tax to fund homeless programs. And $288 million would go toward “alternatives to incarceration.
To resolve an estimated 3,000 sexual abuse claims, the county’s lawyers predict it could be forced to spend anywhere between $1.6 billion and $3 billion. That’s more than the countyMatt McGloin, a top budget official with the county’s Chief Executive Office, told reporters the lawsuits would have an effect “unprecedented in scope.”
The financial repercussions from past crises arrive as the county faces a new wave of problems in its jails and juvenile halls. Ten people have died in county jails this year — a death toll advocates attribute in part to overcrowding in decrepit facilities. Meanwhile, conditions in the juvenile halls have become so deplorable that state regulators areMore than 50 members of the probation workers’ union showed up at the board meeting Tuesday morning.
Such investments are not detailed in the recommended budget for probation, and funding for the department is roughly unchanged from the year before. According to budget officials within the CEO’s office, the total recommended probation budget is $1.059 billion — a $956,000 decrease from the year before.
County officials maintained they were following through on their promises to move away from incarceration, pointing to $288 million going to programs and projects that aim to keep people away from jail, such as job training, housing, and reentry and mental health services.
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