Overview
In FY 2023-24, Sierra County’s governmental funds ended the year with total fund balances of $24,609,146, up $1,892,463 from $22,716,683 at the start of the year — an exact walk per the audit’s reconciliation. The General Fund took in $13,822,145 and spent $16,085,770, a $2,263,625 operating shortfall covered by $2,489,331 in net other financing sources, for a net gain of $225,706. The county’s enterprise funds (solid waste, water, transit) ended the year with a combined net position deficit of $13,780, driven by the solid waste fund’s $2,593,147 deficit against a $3,978,357 closure/postclosure liability.
Source: County of Sierra, Annual Financial Report, year ended June 30, 2024.
At a glance — FY 2023-24 audited actual
No figures match that search.
Source: County of Sierra, Annual Financial Report, year ended June 30, 2024.
General Fund, FY 2023-24 actual
General Fund revenues sum exactly to $13,822,145; expenditures sum exactly to $16,085,770.
| Taxes and assessments | $5,374,797 |
| Intergovernmental | $5,255,402 |
| Charges for services | $2,447,804 |
| Use of money and property | $399,933 |
| Other revenues | $164,583 |
| Licenses, permits, and franchises | $119,404 |
| Fines and forfeitures | $60,222 |
| Total revenues | $13,822,145 |
| Public protection | $7,468,055 |
| General government | $6,771,867 |
| Capital outlay | $1,113,548 |
| Culture and recreation | $346,384 |
| Public ways and facilities | $174,935 |
| Public assistance | $135,569 |
| Education | $54,232 |
| Debt service: principal | $17,608 |
| Health and welfare | $3,524 |
| Debt service: interest and other charges | $48 |
| Total expenditures | $16,085,770 |
Other financing: transfers in $2,696,930, transfers out $241,240, proceeds from sale of capital assets $33,641 — net $2,489,331. Revenues minus expenditures (−$2,263,625) plus net other financing ($2,489,331) equals the net change of $225,706; beginning balance $3,009,542 + $225,706 = ending balance $3,235,248 — exact.
Major funds & fund balances
Ending fund balances by major fund and other governmental funds sum exactly to the $24,609,146 total. The Road Fund’s deficit balance is disclosed, not hidden.
| Human Services Fund | $10,592,666 |
| Public Health and Drug Programs Fund | $7,458,853 |
| Other Governmental Funds | $3,724,141 |
| General Fund | $3,235,248 |
| Road Fund | −$401,762 |
| Total governmental fund balances | $24,609,146 |
Major-fund results: Road Fund revenues $10,054,127 against expenditures $9,656,887, plus net transfers in of $1,108,963, for a net gain of $1,506,203 — yet the fund still ended in deficit because it began the year at −$1,907,965. Human Services gained $724,974 (revenues $4,305,224; expenditures $3,552,555). Public Health and Drug Programs lost $311,872 (revenues $5,715,980; expenditures $6,062,877).
Source: County of Sierra, Annual Financial Report, year ended June 30, 2024.
Elected officials
As listed in the audit’s List of Officials for the year ended June 30, 2024.
| Supervisor, District 1 | Lee Adams |
| Supervisor, District 2 | Lila Heuer |
| Supervisor, District 3 | Paul Roen |
| Supervisor, District 4 | Terry LeBlanc |
| Supervisor, District 5 | Sharon Dryden |
| Assessor | Laura Marshall |
| Auditor/Controller | Van Maddox |
| Clerk/Recorder | Heather Foster |
| District Attorney | Sandra Groven |
| Sheriff/Coroner | Mike Fisher |
Source: County of Sierra, Annual Financial Report, year ended June 30, 2024, List of Officials.
Board meetings
The Board of Supervisors meets on the first Tuesday of each month at 9:00 a.m. in the Board Chambers, Courthouse, 100 Courthouse Square, Downieville, and on the third Tuesday of each month at 9:00 a.m. in the Loyalton Social Hall, 105 Beckwith Street, Loyalton.
Sierra County Board of Supervisors
Regular-pattern dates — check the official calendar for changes.
Livability — Sierra County
Sierra County scores 53.1 on the Hometown Numbers Livability Index, ranked #23 of 58 ranked California counties. Violent crime: 462.2 reported violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2024 (FBI Crime Data Explorer; score 46.5, where a higher score means a lower rate). Full rankings: California livability rankings.
| Component | Value | Score (0–100) |
|---|---|---|
| Housing affordability (median home value ÷ median household income) | 5.24 | 78.4 |
| Median household income | $63,355 | 11.2 |
| Mean commute time | 24.3 minutes | 61.2 |
| Violent crime (reported crimes per 100,000 residents) | 462.2 | 46.5 |
| High school graduation rate | Not retrievable (see note) | — |
| Uninsured rate | 6.3% | 68.1 |
| Unemployment rate | Not retrievable (see note) | — |
Method: percentile rank (count below + 0.5 × count equal) ÷ N × 100, lower-better measures inverted; composite is the mean of available component scores, rounded to 1 decimal; a county needs at least 5 of 7 components or it is unranked, never estimated. Vintages: ACS 2024 5-year (2020–2024) for housing affordability, income, and commute; FBI Crime Data Explorer 2024 for violent crime; County Health Rankings 2025 release for graduation and uninsured. Unemployment (BLS LAUS 2024) is missing for every California county because the BLS public API was unreachable (HTTP 503) on 2026-10-25; composites rest on the other components and will be recomputed if BLS data becomes available. High school graduation rate is not retrievable for Sierra County: blank in the County Health Rankings 2025 California state file, cross-checked against the CHR relational 2025 file where raw_value='NA' with reliability flag 2 (suppressed) — not a parsing artifact; the composite rests on the other 5 components.
Housing prices — Sierra County
County-level figures for Sierra County.
| Median home value | $331,900 |
| Median gross rent | — ACS 2024 5-year B25064 estimate suppressed/unavailable for this county. |
Source: American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates (2020–2024), tables B25077 (median home value) and B25064 (median gross rent).
Public schools — Sierra County
Schools physically located in Sierra County.
7 public schools in 3 school districts, from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES EDGE Public School Locations, 2024–25 school year).
| School | Level | District | City |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downieville Elementary | Elementary (KG-06) | Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified | Downieville |
| Downieville Junior-Senior High | High (07-12) | Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified | Downieville |
| Loyalton Elementary | Elementary (KG-06) | Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified | Loyalton |
| Loyalton High | High (07-12) | Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified | Loyalton |
| Sierra County Special Education | Other (KG-12) | Sierra County Office of Education | Loyalton |
| Sierra Pass (Continuation) | High (09-12) | Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified | Loyalton |
| William R. Rouse ROP | High (10-12) | WIlliam (R) Rouse ROP | Sierraville |
School performance (proficiency): district-level proficiency values are published in the federal Ed Data Express tool and are retrievable by CSV export, but they have not yet been added to this page — the export requires a live-browser download (direct requests to the tool are blocked), so no proficiency figures are shown rather than substituted ones. Source for the list: NCES EDGE Public School Locations — Current, 2024–25.
Neighbor comparison
How Sierra County’s General Fund spending per resident and fund-balance share compare with adjacent counties, computed from each dashboard’s own published figures.
| Government | Per-capita GF spending | Fund balance % |
|---|---|---|
| Sierra County (this dashboard) | $5,857.89 | 20.11% |
| Lassen County | $830.13 | 0.0% |
| Nevada County | — | — |
| Yuba County | — | — |
| Plumas County (no dashboard yet) | — | — |
GF figure: General Fund expenditures, FY 2023-24 actual.
Fund balance: General Fund ending balance, June 30, 2024.
Nevada County: GF total dashed: no GF breakdown published (in-brief gives all-funds totals only)
Nevada County: Fund-balance % dashed: no GF ending balance published
Yuba County: GF total dashed: no GF total extracted (staff report gives adopted totals/contributions/reserves but no GF total)
Yuba County: Fund-balance % dashed: no GF ending balance published (reserves are reserves, not ending)
Plumas County: No Plumas County dashboard in this dataset (no county GF figure exists here); a city dashboard in the county, if any, does not supply a county figure.
Per-capita GF spending = the dashboard’s published General Fund total ÷ county population (ACS 2024 5-year, table B01003). Fund balance % = published GF ending balance ÷ GF total for the same fiscal year unless noted.
— in the fund-balance column means no GF ending balance is published on that dashboard (adopted budgets typically state only a January 1 balance).
Neighbor rows are county figures for the counties adjacent to the home county (U.S. Census Bureau County Adjacency File, 2024; out-of-state neighbors excluded).
Sources & notes
- Source used: County of Sierra, Annual Financial Report together with Independent Auditor’s Report, year ended June 30, 2024 (Smith & Newell, unmodified opinions). Audit report.
- Sum checks: General Fund revenues exact ($13,822,145); General Fund expenditures exact ($16,085,770); General Fund balance walk exact ($3,009,542 + $225,706 = $3,235,248); major-fund ending balances exact ($24,609,146); governmental-funds walk exact ($22,716,683 + $1,892,463 = $24,609,146).
- What is not claimed: no FY 2025-26 adopted budget figures (book not text-verified); no single total governmental revenue or expenditure figure, because the statement’s totals columns extract interleaved; no outstanding-debt total from the notes; enterprise detail is limited to the net-position summary in the overview.
- Page accent: #295A45, the County of Sierra’s official site theme color (sierracounty.ca.gov); the dark-theme accent (#96CFB7) is a lightened tint of the same color for contrast on the dark background.