Bracing for federal cuts, Santa Clara County executive pulls millions in federal funds out of the upcoming budget

With deep cuts expected to Medicaid Medicare and other social services programs this year Santa Clara County Executive James Williams is recommending pulling nearly million in federal funds they would typically anticipate from the upcoming budget but additional dollars could still be on the chopping block Though that figure represents less than of the dollars the county receives on an annual basis from the federal establishment Williams disclosed it puts the decision-making power into the county s hands and prevents a drip drip drip of cuts The county estimates roughly billion or nearly of its current budget is made up of federal funds with of that dedicated to physical condition care We don t want the federal executive to dictate to us what services get cut Williams reported The Mercury News Instead we re going to be the ones to decide how we manage our own guidance and the services that we deliver in our group The county executive reported he decided not to include the nearly million in his newly published recommended - fiscal year budget in the event funds are cut or the feds institute conditions that are entirely antithetical to our county s core values The Trump administration has already tried to end federal grants that promote diversity equity and inclusion gender ideology and sanctuary immigration policies Last week Santa Clara County signed onto a lawsuit against the feds over the U S Department of Housing and Urban Evolution placing unlawful conditions on funds to address homelessness The county executive s recommended budget for the - fiscal year is billion an increase from the current billion budget It s the third year in a row the county has grappled with major local deficits according to Williams which means they have fewer vacant positions to eliminate and less flexibility to close the gap than in years past The deficit is projected to grow to million by the - fiscal year Related Articles Santa Clara County SF take aim at Elon Musk s DOGE in latest lawsuit against the Trump administration Bay Area-led lawsuit wins preliminary injunction against Trump s attempt to freeze federal funds to sanctuary jurisdictions Bucking a state trend Santa Clara County will keep its protocol restricting advance to states with anti-LGBTQ laws Santa Clara County will decide whether to implement ranked choice voting later this year Letters Sant Clara County s transgender flag is a symbol of acceptance County departments across the board made spending reductions in the proposed budget and positions the bulk of which are vacant will be deleted A large chunk of those jobs nearly full time positions are from the Santa Clara Valley Healthcare system and the budget acknowledges that eliminating those jobs may have an impact on recipient care The positions makeup of the healthcare system s overall workforce While the county planned for specific level of federal cuts Williams mentioned there is still a lot of layers of uncertainty The proposed budget assumes no changes to Medicare Medicaid or federally-funded social function programs like SNAP and Temporary Aid to Needy Families largely because it s not something the county can anticipate There s countless a great number of different methods they could potentially target California s Medi-Cal plan so those cuts could disproportionately hit us Williams declared of the uncertainty The county might have to reopen the budget and make changes in the fall once Congress finalizes the budget for the federal fiscal year which begins Oct Board of Supervisors President Otto Lee revealed in a announcement that the primary concern is the promising impact of Medicaid cuts In Santa Clara County one out of every four residents relies on Medicaid a general strength insurance plan for low income individuals that s referred to as Medi-Cal in the state Republicans in Congress have been looking at making sweeping cuts to the venture to pay for President Donald Trump s immigration policies and tax cuts but Democrats warn that slashing Medicaid would be devastating for the more than million Americans who rely on the scheme Residents hospitals are highly dependent on revenues from Medicaid as well With four hospitals in our healthcare system these federal funding reductions could have devastating consequences for our life-saving services and trauma care Lee declared The seriousness of this issue truly cannot be overstated Supervisor Susan Ellenberg noted that regardless of whether the county receives reimbursement for Medicaid-covered services they ll still continue providing healthcare If they re not reimbursable by Medicaid they ll be coming from our general funds Ellenberg explained in an interview Which then indirectly means that other services that I would argue are largely vital are going to go by the wayside As Santa Clara County walks through its annual budget process over the next month Williams announced the county will also have to keep a watchful eye on Gov Gavin Newsom s May state budget revision In January Newsom noted he expected a balanced budget for the - fiscal year But last month the governor reported he ll now likely have to cut spending due to the impact of Trump s tariffs on the state s economic prospects We re hearing very concerning indications that the May revise might propose devastating cuts to several of the same types of funding and programs on a state level that are being threatened on a federal level Williams mentioned Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga declared in a message that given the current fiscal picture the county necessities to get creative in finding new revenue streams She s appealed county officers for a list of properties they own that could potentially be leased We will likely get more curveballs she stated And we need to continually look for revenue streams