Overview
Santa Cruz County’s FY2025-26 adopted budget totals $1,065,023,439 across governmental funds, plus $289,624,208 in other funds (internal service, enterprise, and special districts) on the sources side. Health and Sanitation is the largest governmental function at $307,878,705, followed by Public Protection at $242,511,374 and Public Assistance at $217,205,555. Intergovernmental revenues of $579,470,249 dominate governmental financing sources. The General Fund alone totals $837,630,755 in financing sources, built from $816,248,227 in additional financing sources plus $19,600,461 in available fund balance and $1,782,067 in obligated-balance decreases.
Source: County of Santa Cruz, Adopted Budget, Fiscal Year 2025-26 (State Controller Schedules 1, 2, 5, 7).
At a glance — FY 2025-26 adopted
Source: County of Santa Cruz, Adopted Budget, FY 2025-26 (Schedules 1, 5, 7).
All funds summary, FY 2025-26 adopted
Financing sources by fund group sum exactly to the printed governmental total of $1,065,023,439, and other-funds sources sum exactly to $289,624,208.
| Fund group | Financing sources |
|---|---|
| General Fund | $837,630,755 |
| Special Revenue Funds | $162,208,330 |
| Less Than County Wide Funds | $24,631,301 |
| Capital Projects Funds | $40,553,053 |
| Total governmental funds | $1,065,023,439 |
| Internal Service Funds | $190,355,203 |
| Enterprise Funds | $40,342,092 |
| Special Districts and Other Agencies (sources side) | $58,926,913 |
| Total other funds (sources side) | $289,624,208 |
| Total all funds (sources side) | $1,354,647,647 |
The $9,000 gap: the Special Districts row prints $58,935,913 on the uses side, making total other-funds uses $289,633,208 and total all-funds uses $1,354,656,647 — $9,000 above the sources side. The governmental side balances exactly (uses $1,046,811,618 + obligated-fund-balance increases $18,211,821 = $1,065,023,439).
Governmental financing uses by function (adopted): General Government $115,734,145; Public Protection $242,511,374; Public Ways and Facilities $116,401,360; Health and Sanitation $307,878,705; Public Assistance $217,205,555; Education $10,016,886; Recreation and Cultural Services $18,568,640; Debt Services $31,562,005; Reserves −$21,399,381 (a negative reserve use). Those sum to $1,038,479,289; plus appropriations for contingencies $8,332,329 = $1,046,811,618; plus provisions for obligated fund balances $18,211,821 = $1,065,023,439 (exact).
Governmental financing sources by source sum exactly to $1,012,532,831: Taxes $222,076,954; Licenses, Permits and Franchises $17,483,757; Fines, Forfeitures & Assessments $8,566,097; Revenue from Use of Money & Property $13,131,410; Intergovernmental Revenues $579,470,249; Charges for Services $112,191,517; Miscellaneous Revenues $15,601,971; Other Financing Sources $44,010,876. Appropriations limit: $743,154,153; appropriations subject to limit: $313,154,315.
Source: County of Santa Cruz, Adopted Budget, FY 2025-26 (Schedules 1, 2, 5, 7).
General Fund, FY 2025-26 adopted
The General Fund balances exactly on both sides: available fund balance $19,600,461 + decreases to obligated fund balances $1,782,067 + additional financing sources $816,248,227 = total financing sources $837,630,755; financing uses $824,318,801 + increases to obligated fund balances $13,311,954 = $837,630,755.
General Fund taxes total $198,273,000 (Schedule 6 printed total). Largest components: Property Tax — Current Secured (General) $84,512,000; Property Tax in Lieu of VLF $46,701,000; Sales & Use Tax — unincorporated area 1% $13,932,000; Sales-Use Tax — Measure G 1/2 cent $10,723,000; Sales-Use Tax — Measure K 1/2 cent $10,702,000; Transient Occupancy Tax $14,635,000; Residual Distribution $6,860,000. These are the largest lines only, not a full tax breakdown.
Source: County of Santa Cruz, Adopted Budget, FY 2025-26 (Schedules 1, 6).
Elected officials
The county is governed by a five-member elected Board of Supervisors; the current Chair is Monica Martinez (5th District).
| District 1 Supervisor | Manu Koenig |
| District 2 Supervisor | Kimberly De Serpa |
| District 3 Supervisor | Justin Cummings |
| District 4 Supervisor | Felipe Hernandez |
| District 5 Supervisor (Chair) | Monica Martinez |
| County Executive Officer (named in adopted book) | Carlos J. Palacios |
| Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector (named in adopted book) | Laura Bowers |
Sources: County of Santa Cruz, County Services (Board of Supervisors); Adopted Budget, FY 2025-26 (preface).
Sources & notes
- Sources used: County of Santa Cruz, Adopted Budget, Fiscal Year 2025-26 — State Controller Schedule 1 (All Funds Summary), Schedule 2 (Governmental Funds Summary), Schedule 5 (Additional Financing Sources by Source and Fund), Schedule 6 (Detail of Additional Sources), Schedule 7 (Financing Uses by Function and Fund). Adopted budget book.
- Sum checks: governmental sources by fund group exact; other-funds sources exact; governmental uses by function exact after the negative reserves line; governmental sources by source exact; General Fund both sides exact.
- Basis flags: all figures are FY2025-26 Adopted columns; the all-funds totals carry an unresolved $9,000 sources-versus-uses discrepancy located in the Special Districts row (disclosed, printed totals used); the June 2025 proposed figures ($1.23B / $793.5M) are not used; the reserves line in the function table is negative (−$21,399,381), which is what makes the function table sum to its printed total.
- What is not claimed: no department-level budget-unit detail beyond the function and fund summaries is shown; no enterprise- or internal-service-fund detail beyond the Schedule 1 totals is claimed.
- Jurisdiction palette: no verified Santa Cruz County palette was on file, so this page uses the neutral Hometown Numbers dark-glass theme rather than a county color.