Budget Trends Negative for Humboldt County

A “status quo” budget is being drafted for Humboldt County, with no room for the post-approval funding departments usually rely on to balance their budgets.

It’s the middle of the fiscal year and at its Feb. 4 meeting, the Board of Supervisors approved staff recommendations as a lean 2025-26 budget is drafted.

The current year’s budget was approved with a $15 million deficit but that’s been brought down to $10 million due to a mix of savings and one-time revenue increases.

But spending of the General Fund, which pays for county services, is still surpassing revenues by about $20 million and salary and benefit increases will pressure the coming year’s flat-lined budget.

One of the approved recommendations is to forgo the customary practice of allowing departments to request what’s known as “supplemental” funding.

The coming fiscal year’s budget will be approved at the end of June. County Sheriff Billy Honsal noted that “every single department is cut to its core” and he doesn’t want to de-fund staff positions “especially when we’re asking for more public safety for our communities.”

He said he wants to be able to “bring something forward like a problem-oriented policing team, more mobile intervention when it comes to crisis intervention, more vehicle abatement money – all those things that are important to you all, it’s important that we’re able to bring those to you so you can fund those in the future.”
But economic trends challenge that.

During the staff presentation, Assistant County Administrative Officer Jessica Maciel said “across the board, all sales tax is not performing very well” and the Measure Z public safety sales tax fund is expected to fall below what was budgeted.

Maciel told supervisors several departments have negative budget balances, which she described as “concerning.”

There was some resistance to not accepting supplemental General Fund requests from departments. But County Administrative Officer Elishia Hayes said allowing them would be irresponsible given the threadbare budget scenario.

“It’d be incredibly irresponsible of me to hand you a checkbook when you don’t have
money in your checking account and that’s what the data is telling us right now,” she continued.

“You’re not going to have money in your checking account at the end of next fiscal year based off of a status quo budget as it is.”

The ability to offset ongoing deficits is expected to overwhelm the county in the 2026-27 fiscal year.

But Supervisor Michelle Bushnell has serious doubt about squelching supplemental budget requests.

“The responsibility I have to my community, to my district, is that I know what we’re going to be denying to people for services, which this is what this means,” she said, adding that she wants to be informed of “what the communities are going to be losing.”
But she said she’ll go along with holding off on supplemental budget requests to avoid a worse scenario – layoffs.

“Am I happy? No, do I want to vote on this? No, I don’t but we don’t have
the funds and I don’t want to get to a layoff position for people,” she said. “That’s not comfortable either.”

With some reluctance, supervisors approved the recommendations for the upcoming budget with Bushnell saying, “We’re doing this to avoid the layoffs because we value our team members.”

Facebooktwitterpinterestmail

Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules

Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

76 Please improve the conversation by disagreeing thoughtfully and backing your claims with facts
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Truth Be Told
Member
Truth Be Told
1 year ago

More smoke and mirrors — State law requires they pass a balanced budget — but the current budget was projected to be $15 million in the red when it was adopted and $10 million now after “savings and one time revenue” — but general fund expenditures exceed revenue by $20 million — which means a “status quo” budget is a prescription for driving county finances over a cliff.

Last edited 1 year ago
Giant Squirrel
Guest
Giant Squirrel
1 year ago
Reply to  Truth Be Told

Sleepwalking over the cliff makes the required cuts more painful later. Reduce county headcount by 25% now, replace lazy paper pushers with AI, it doesn’t get Calpers

CsMisadventures
Guest
CsMisadventures
1 year ago
Reply to  Giant Squirrel

You want AI handling your SSI too? What if it makes a mistake or denies your claim? Have fun with your robot making all your important decisions for you.

Permanently on Monitoring
Guest
Permanently on Monitoring
1 year ago
Reply to  Truth Be Told

And it is the Supervisors themselves who need layoff notices…

Bushnell trends pretty negative anyway, but if the County is going down the tubes, why would anyone want to grow Marijuana inside a building…

Losers in charge of a losing governmental situation…

CsMisadventures
Guest
CsMisadventures
1 year ago
Reply to  Truth Be Told

Well at least a couple streets got paved and C/R will get a couple new buildings. Good luck on the rest. Out of curiosity I see 37 job openings on the county webpage. I wonder if that will shrink a bit due to not being filled or eliminated.

Permanently on Monitoring
Guest
Permanently on Monitoring
1 year ago

You can tell which jobs they actually want to hire, and which they don’t care about, by the salary…

It is enjoyable to watch the idiots in charge fiddle while the County burns…

One of the most commonly encountered forms of corruption is Nepotism…

To call your Supervisors corrupt is an insult to honest thieves everywhere…

I swear, I have had jobs where I was really given nothing to do, and nothing is exactly what I did… One lasted five years and I made over a half a million dollars while I did this nothing…

I never thought of running for office…

Last edited 1 year ago
CsMisadventures
Guest
CsMisadventures
1 year ago

Oh yeah. Neoptism is pretty deep around here. It skips right on past any other hiring methodology used when someone’s kid is now the GM of something and they’re still in college, yet the person that’s been there 15 years or has advanced training gets passed over. Again.

SamL
Member
SamL
1 year ago

Based and sadly true. Why Humboldt County is dying and will be the new Gary, Indiana soon

Jeffersonian
Guest
Jeffersonian
1 year ago

Too much government stifles businesses. The govt. solution is more taxes and more government regulations. That stifles more. The beat goes on. Humboldt county looks like a third world country more everday.

Ahuka of the Hashishim
Guest
Ahuka of the Hashishim
1 year ago
Reply to  Jeffersonian

He governs best who governs least

sohumjoe
Member
sohumjoe
1 year ago

I have an idea: Let’s get Elon and his band of InCel’s in here to root out the fraud!

CsMisadventures
Guest
CsMisadventures
1 year ago
Reply to  sohumjoe

You had one. Ran her out of an elected position too.

Farmer
Guest
Farmer
1 year ago

Here is the deal: no one wants to fire people—absolutely not. But the government doesn’t function to keep people hired just for the sake of governing. Public services should always be the priority when it comes to funding. Maybe the CAO should have spent her time allowing the cannabis excise tax money earmarked for marketing Humboldt’s largest economy instead of fighting the previous AC who was trying to root out corruption and misuse of funding. Perhaps the B.O.S should have made it a bit easier on the farmers who kept this county running. Because supporting out of town investors didn’t help our communities. Letting a couple of big guys stack all of the alterative energy and water storage grants didn’t either because now a lot of small farmers don’t have their upgrades needed to continue to meet compliance standards.

Why are we still taking advice from the woman who sent our county into an economic tailspin? Why haven’t we found out what happened to the $50 million in cannabis tax revenue plus abatement funding?

For anyone interested the Trellis program might get canceled because they didn’t spend the funds they received. The state won’t give them any more funding until they release the funds they were already given. Essentially, they are trying to give all of that money to people who owe largest amounts of Measure S taxes rather than actually supporting the industry. It kind of pisses me off that still they are acting like greedy pigs. I worked two additional jobs on top of farming and raising a family to pay my taxes with ten day notices that I didn’t pay I would lose everything. I don’t fault the growers who couldn’t pay that was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life and saddest because when you work 16hr days for years you miss a lot of valuable time with your kids.

The taxes were unfair in the first place forgive them or let people continue to make payments. Don’t take all of their grant funding so you can go get your hair done and drive the newest model work truck. You have a payment plan in place; keep that and allow people to actually invest in compliance and necessary upgrades if they are lucky enough to still have a farm because there are no more provisional licenses. It’s a sham if all you do is take take take and leave people with no hope for the future. Perhaps we need less government and more transparency.

Mr. Clark
Member
1 year ago
Reply to  Farmer

Weed needs to be TAXed. Grower, TAX. Retail TAX. User TAX. Three layers of taxation pissed away by the BOS. But the industry still gets support form the county. They practically have their own police force.

Farmer
Guest
Farmer
1 year ago
Reply to  Mr. Clark

The county got 50 million in tax revenue plus permit fees, property taxes,and abatement fines. To date they have spent around 350,000 to pay economic development and the county funding match to receive 5,000,000 in trellis funding from the state. Do you think it was worth the investment. Because I don’t see any public benefit besides raises for staff and a new courthouse roof.

Farmer
Guest
Farmer
1 year ago
Reply to  Farmer

The investment should have been in marketing our biggest export and supported our locally owned farming community, locally owned shops, locally owned restaurants, and all of the artists, students, and culture that benefited from a strong producer based economy. That is a lot of money that went into the pockets of government rather than public good. Not to mention that the strain of such an extractive regulatory system bankrupt the producers.

Last edited 1 year ago
The Dude
Guest
The Dude
1 year ago
Reply to  Farmer

Well, which pockets of Government did it go into? The Counties biggest expenditures are in HHS. Are you claiming that HHS isn’t a public good?

I totally agree with your point about extractive regulatory systems. Only Gov’t could bankrupt a cash cow like legal weed.

Farmer
Guest
Farmer
1 year ago
Reply to  The Dude

I would be okay with it if it was used for HHS in fact in the ballot language a large portion of the money was supposed to go to drug rehabilitation facilities. It didn’t.
From lost coast outpost comment section directly from madrone
Stefan Shumaker 
4 months ago
Didn’t the county steal all the cannabis abatement money, some $54 million for “emergency road repairs?” Please correct me if wrong. The money is GONE with no answers. It was supposed to go towards cannabis funding and repairing the wrongs done by.
 3
 0
Reply

  • S
  • Steve Madrone  Stefan Shumaker
  • 4 months ago
  • None of these funds went to roads. It went to a new roof on the courthouse, ADA improvements, and other county expenses including raises for our emplyees who are struggling due to inflation.
CsMisadventures
Guest
CsMisadventures
1 year ago
Reply to  Farmer

The whole marketing by the county is a risk. As long as weed is MIS-classified as a CII drug any marketing by a public entity is technically illegal. That would be left to the growers or their own marketing folks. Its in the same way that say DHHS can’t outright advertise Ketamine or Oxycodone/Acetominophen, but the pharma companies sure can. And both can be legally prescribed. But that whole CII is a big stickler as it elevates it to another level in the eyes of the DEA and FDA, so even your marketing has very defined limits (e.g. what’s just a therapeutic additive vs. legitimate medical use).
Shorter answer is it’s just a rock and a hard space that doesn’t need to be there. Once gone, the doors to marketing open right up and like legalization, the threat of arrest and jail time goes away.

Farmer
Guest
Farmer
1 year ago

We have the the Humboldt County Tourism Department which is part of the Humboldt County Visitors Bureau, which is the authorized Destination Marketing & Management Organization (DMMO) for the county. And similarly to Napa having Napa Valley Tourism Improvement District (NVTID) which has a significant role in promoting tourism, which includes wine tourism. We could be promoting Canna-tourism. Not in marketing a specific brand but as part of the Counties attractions. Weed is to Humboldt as Wine is to Napa it just is. Both of those departments are funded by government because it behooves an area to promote their economy. What I’m saying isn’t a novel idea. Scott Adair is actually the guy who first came up with the idea.

Farmer
Guest
Farmer
1 year ago
Reply to  Farmer

And why this is so frustrating because we have been asking for this for over eight years and we had the funding but the CAO wouldn’t let us do anything with it.

Tangled Massocells
Guest
Tangled Massocells
1 year ago
Reply to  Farmer

Good luck with that one and dream on! The comparison to the wine country is just an unrealistic dream. But that’s OK! Sink whatever is left of your money into it. Find investors. Maybe a co-op. Just don’t ask the government to fund your dream. The money from the ever increasing local taxes go into the General Fund and will disappear to be used on other stuff.

Farmer
Guest
Farmer
1 year ago

The government wasn’t funding our dreams. The taxes directly from cannabis growers were funding these programs. We just need the government to stop asking for handouts and imposing unrealistic taxes and overregulation. Taxation without representation is a fundamental failing in a democracy. Im not sure if you remember the American Revolution but yeah… Our local government not only didn’t have our best interests at heart; they actively worked against us. I have a feeling this is going to play out in court. We already have a federal class action in the courts for the abatements. I believe John Ford and all of the supervisors are personally being sued in that lawsuit as well. Just wait until the farmers, big and small, start fighting the state tax increase in 2025. Who do you think is going to be personally named in that lawsuit? So many people have evidence of malfeasance. How long are you all going to drag out not giving us the fiscal reports from 2016-2019?

Last edited 1 year ago
Tangled Massocells
Guest
Tangled Massocells
1 year ago
Reply to  Farmer

You replied to my comment about some unrealistic comparison to the wine country. Are you saying the taxes from pot growers was earmarked for development of pot farms mimicking the wine industry to the south? Did you miss the part about the General Fund? As far as taxation without representation, pretty sure I might know about that because I live in California. The hidden crap being revealed in Washington DC is a shining example of that term. Good luck either way the class action lawsuit. The lawyers will take the money leaving you enough for a tank of gas for a grow dozer. Personally I could care less about who is named in the lawsuit and I have nothing to do with the pot industry. I stayed away from that sh*t to avoid the sh*t you’re flappin your jaws about. I have nothing to do with dragging out fiscal reports cause I don’t work for the county.

B Honest
Guest
B Honest
1 year ago
Reply to  Farmer

Measure S taxes should have been used to promote and market Humboldt County as a tourist destination.

Measure Z taxes are falling because so many in the hills have left for good.

Buyers from around the country aren’t coming here any more. The one industry that should have saved our community had to fight locally against our planning department.
Yes John had zero controll of his employees and they proved to have a biased opinion about cannabis. I watched planners straight up lie on planning commission hearings, zoning administration hearing and appeals.

It’s hard to compete in business when you first have to battle your local civil servants working at the planning department.

Thanks for literally destroying Humboldt’s future.

Last edited 1 year ago
Farmer
Guest
Farmer
1 year ago
Reply to  B Honest

It’s really sad that the canna-bias has destroyed people’s lives and our rural communities. My heart is breaking right now with rural federal funding in jeopardy—we are so beyond screwed . When I’ve say I grew up poor and hungry in these hills, I mean it. I don’t think a lot of people remember what it’s like to be snowed in with no food because your family didn’t have savings to prepare. If you grew up hungry, you remember that, and I don’t want that for anyone.
This is why it always should have been regulated by people in agriculture, because city planners have no clue what it’s like to farm or the realities of mountain living. Why the hate? It was pretty clear that most of us are just simple people who want to live off the land but they choose to support greed growers and distros who bailed as soon as they found out it was cheaper to grow down south instead of local families. So wild and fucking stupid SMH

Last edited 1 year ago
Tangled Massocells
Guest
Tangled Massocells
1 year ago
Reply to  Farmer

Yikes! Better buck it up and invest in yourself to do something sustainable or you will end up living on the river bar?

SamL
Member
SamL
1 year ago
Reply to  Farmer

They didn’t even put a new roof on the animal shelter (which desperately needs one)

Thatguyinarcata
Guest
Thatguyinarcata
1 year ago
Reply to  Mr. Clark

Weed is the most heavily taxed product and business sector in the county by far.

CsMisadventures
Guest
CsMisadventures
1 year ago
Reply to  Mr. Clark

Have you not paid attention to one single post about weed taxation in the last, oh 8 years?

SamL
Member
SamL
1 year ago
Reply to  Farmer

The 60 million is sitting in a room in the courthouse. They can’t deposit it into a bank, so they legit have cold hard cash in filing boxes in an office in the county building

Alf
Guest
Alf
1 year ago

How about a layoff of the BOS members, the Sheriff, the DA and all the others who aren’t doing their jobs? That would be a huge savings.

CsMisadventures
Guest
CsMisadventures
1 year ago
Reply to  Alf

Until recently the HCSO was operating with reduced staff. Still are. You want to reduce it further? I can think of other places. Have you been in a courtroom lately? DAs and some others are up to their eyeballs with work dealing with all the repeat offenders. You want to reduce that too?

Alf
Guest
Alf
1 year ago

I’m all for removing ALL ineffective, inefficient, incompetent “leaders.” All those I mentioned and more are collecting salaries and fit all these categories.

Bozo
Guest
Bozo
1 year ago

>”… across the board, all sales tax is not performing very well” and the Measure Z public safety sales tax fund is expected to fall below what was budgeted.”

Well, here’s a hint: Most of the people do not have any money to spend.

By the way. Take a look at the County Salaries. Browse the right hand column.
Go here: https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2023/humboldt-county/

Portion attached below.

You will figure it out.

Captureklljl
Disgusted
Guest
Disgusted
1 year ago
Reply to  Bozo

Well that’s eye opening! Third poorest county in the state and we’re paying our Sheriff almost half a million dollars? For what? Now I’m really pissed off…no wonder the county is broke. New cars, super high salaries that are completely out of line with the economy of this county. Outrageous what they get paid for the little that they actually do. Bah.

Kym Kemp
Admin
1 year ago
Reply to  Disgusted

Our sheriff is also the coroner. I disagree with this. I think they should be separate positions BUT they aren’t and it isn’t unreasonable to have more pay if you are covering more work. The reason I disagree is that it is problematic to have the roles combined. A study from USC Dornsife highlighted that counties with a combined sheriff-coroner role tend to underreport officer-involved homicides compared to those with separate offices.https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/study-shows-california-counties-overseen-by-a-coroner-who-is-also-sheriff-underreport-officer-involved-deaths/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Farmer
Guest
Farmer
1 year ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

That is horrifying

The Real Guest
Guest
The Real Guest
1 year ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

So, if I show up to work at your place, to do carpentry work, but I’m also wearing my plumber hat, I should be able to charge you double, or more, even if I’m not plunging your toilet at the same time I’m driving nails with my hammer…???
It’s gonna be pretty hard to do both at once, for just one guy…

Impossible actually…

You won’t have a problem getting a bill for eight hours for a carpenter AND a bill for eight hours for a plumber, when it’s just me showing up for the day…???

What about travel time…???

You ok with paying for two guys’ travel time when just one guy shows up…???

PLUS…

…two theoretically simultaneous 15 minute morning coffee breaks, two simultaneous 30 minute noon lunch breaks, AND two simultaneous afternoon 15 minute breaks…
Is yearly vacation time, comp time, and sick time also doubled, or just the value of it…???
(Hang on, hold that thought, and everything else, I’ll be back in a couple hours, because I have to go get my other truck, I keep my hammer in one truck, and my plunger in a different truck, for efficiency’s sake.)…

One says plumber on the side, the other one says carpenter on the side, that’s why I get paid double…

If it will make you feel better about it, I’ll just leave them both running all day, because I don’t get charged for fuel or wear and tear on either vehicle…

That comes out of a different pile of your property taxes…

And then when I finish unclogging your toilet, I’ll drive back to get my truck with the hammer in it, so I can get back to your place, to start driving nails again…

I mean, what’s to object to there, right…???

You ok with also paying just one guy the doubled retirement/pension/benefits based on two guy’s positions/salary’s…???

I mean, how is the sheriff going to be able to arrest the coroner, if necessary, and/or how is the coroner going to be able to “handle” the sheriff’s death investigation, if necessary, if they are one and the same person…???

Hypothetically, of course…

There is only so much that one person can properly juggle…
Juggling a plunger and a hammer at the same time, might be technically possible, but it would be virtually impossible for one guy to be putting BOTH to proper use, at the same time, let alone for an extended period, like a long term career…

Don’t get me wrong, I like and respect Sheriff Honsal, and I don’t begrudge him the additional position, nor the extra pay…

But let’s be realistic about the inherent physical limitations of multitasking…

One person can’t possibly be in two different places, doing two different jobs at once, and it doesn’t matter who that person is, nor what dollar amount that they are being paid…

(As I’m sure you are well aware…)

Last edited 1 year ago
CsMisadventures
Guest
CsMisadventures
1 year ago
Reply to  The Real Guest

That’s why you become a general contractor, so that you can farm out some of the work when one aspect has all your time committed to it.

Tangled Massocells
Guest
Tangled Massocells
1 year ago

Plus+++ you can hire illegals to do the work to increase money in your pocket. It’s illegal to do that but something illegal never stopped a whole bunch of people in Humboldt County.

CsMisadventures
Guest
CsMisadventures
1 year ago
Reply to  Disgusted

Pension and benefits are not direct cash into their bank accounts so he doesn’t actually make that much. You get the pension years later, if you fully earn it. That’s just what the county is obligated to in the future. Benefits are just that, things like health insurance which all the county employees can be eligible for. If you cut his, you cut them all.
If you think that’s a lot, go check out some of the municipal pay grades for people in larger urban areas. It’s 3 and 4x what Honsal may or may not receive.

Truth Be Told
Member
Truth Be Told
1 year ago

CsMis said:
“Pension and benefits are not direct cash into their bank accounts so he doesn’t actually make that much. You get the pension years later, if you fully earn it. That’s just what the county is obligated to in the future.”

Not exactly — the Transparent California website only lists money already paid out by the County — it does not list the unfunded pension liability which is on top of the money paid out annually.

And some benefits — car allowance for instance — are direct cash into their bank accounts — also not listed are taxpayer funded travel, meals and lodging for the mini-vacations masquerading as conferences and trainings.

Tangled Massocells
Guest
Tangled Massocells
1 year ago
Reply to  Disgusted

Not much of an economy if the third poorest. I don’t think it’s gonna improve with the current political atmosphere. I’m thinking folks may look for greener pastures once reality sets in.

ForestGrump
Member
ForestGrump
1 year ago
Reply to  Bozo

Disproving the adage that you have to pay good money to attract good people… how can this little rural county, ~120,000 people, economically depressed, pay these exorbinate salaries? Add the pending loss of Federal funding, the roads (Public Works), HHS, other depts depend greatly on the Federal monies. And why the antiquated unsupportable pension system digging the County deeper and deeper into debt, most private business has migrated to 401k plans with modest company matches, affordable, adjustable to the preformance of the company, and puts the onus of retirement planning/saving on the employee. Are we(Humboldt Cnty) still spending just short of one million dollars annually for the spy satellite monitoring the hinterlands for illicit grows that aren’t there anymore?

Anon
Guest
Anon
1 year ago
Reply to  Bozo

Need to find out how to get in line for some of that vague but multi – figure “other pay.” Looks like a lucrative side hustle.

stretch
Guest
stretch
1 year ago

News flash

This body, and it’s previous incarnation, went out of it’s way (way way out of their way) to destroy any chance that either pot or the Humboldt brand would have any future benefit for the County.

How does it feel to sit in your own pile of utter incompetence?

The Real Guest
Guest
The Real Guest
1 year ago

Where is Elon Musk and DOGE when we need them…!!!???

Lets get to the bottom of Humboldt County Government Waste, Graft, and Corruption…!!!

Poking the bear
Guest
Poking the bear
1 year ago
Reply to  The Real Guest

I’m with Alf. There is alot of people not doing their jobs. I can think of a few. Like the supervisors, and police.. how about the building code enforcement, they are worthless as shit.

Poking the bear
Guest
Poking the bear
1 year ago

And supervisors humboldt problems are just getting started. And you moron created it.

CsMisadventures
Guest
CsMisadventures
1 year ago

You know there’s job openings for some of those. Go apply and make a difference!

SamL
Member
SamL
1 year ago

doubt anyone who isn’t a nepo-baby would ever get hired

The Dude
Guest
The Dude
1 year ago

The majority of the budget goes for HHS. If you can’t get a handle on that, there will be no balanced budgeting.

Oh and the idea that you CAN’T lay people off when you don’t have the money is really irresponsible. Its a weird sort of magical thinking only someone in Government could engage in. Being a leader means making uncomfortable decisions during hard times.

Last edited 1 year ago
Me
Guest
Me
1 year ago
Reply to  The Dude

They don’t want to rock the boat that is filled with all their extended family members.

Farmer
Guest
Farmer
1 year ago
Reply to  Me

Which is why they won’t do anything when you file a complaint as well.

DL Perry
Guest
DL Perry
1 year ago
Reply to  Me

When the boat is sailing the direction you want, every reason to keep things just as they are. Sad for this county.

SamL
Member
SamL
1 year ago
Reply to  The Dude

The county only hires family members and friends lmao it’s an incestuous pool of corruption and incompetence

rsfagmjnfg
Guest
rsfagmjnfg
1 year ago

BOS compensation needs to be cut and then tied to median income of Humboldt county residents. It should not exceed median income by more that a given percentage. Currently BOS compensation is over 100% more than median income.

CsMisadventures
Guest
CsMisadventures
1 year ago
Reply to  rsfagmjnfg

Pay scales are all over the place statewide. Some make sense, some don’t. Del Norte and some other counties barely make minimum wage in those higher positions. Some like in L.A. make much, much more on just base salaries, not anything else.
Pick and choose right here.
Employer type in Humboldt.

Last edited 1 year ago
Disgusted
Guest
Disgusted
1 year ago

Maybe the county should forego salary increases and stop buying expensive cars for their staff to drive. All the county vehicles are brand new, shiney and expensive. Makes me do a head spin when they say they have no money. Curiouser and curiouser…

Highlander
Guest
Highlander
1 year ago

Bozo – thanks for the salary snip! Crazy numbers, especially the LEO’s! I’m a former County employee and I can tell you there is a lot of dead wood. I know of current County employees who still work from home -BULLSHIT!

In regards to DHHS, 3% ($8.4M) of their funding is from the General Fund. They and all other departments can cut some fat, at least 10%. The Sheriff and Public Works should cut 12%.

Of course sales tax revenue is down and will continue to likely go down due to the crazy high prices locally and the crazy high sales tax rates. Most cannot afford to buy local.

In regards to cannabis, the BOS killed that golden goose. First by allowing the Planning Department to establish the most onerous and costly process in the nation. Second by adopting a heavy handed, over the top code enforcement program.

The BOS, Newsome, McGuire and Wood should have advocated to restrict cannabis cultivation to those handful of counties that historically produced cannabis.

Farmer is spot on! Cannabis taxes/revenue should have been used to establish a regional processing, packaging and distribution facility, distribution facilities in major retail markets and a strategic marketing program targeting the major retail markets.

Tangled Massocells
Guest
Tangled Massocells
1 year ago
Reply to  Highlander

A whole lot of deadwood at DHHS! Reality check: Cannabis taxes/revenues are over – that’s why it ended up being called the “Green Rush”. Should read: Farmer can dream on. I know this when I read/hear words like “should have”. It can get tough when you are literally a “one crop economy” and it dies. I’d wager the folks here that were not vested in that economy but had to compete with the illegal $$$ are not sympathetic.

Truth Be Told
Member
Truth Be Told
1 year ago

Tangled said: “I’d wager the folks here that were not vested in that economy but had to compete with the illegal $$$ are not sympathetic.”

People not in the weed market weren’t competing with weed growers — they were making money selling them everything from garden supplies, cars, groceries, jewelry, clothing and you name it to cutover forest land at inflated prices.

Tangled Massocells
Guest
Tangled Massocells
1 year ago
Reply to  Truth Be Told

You missed the part about paying taxes(think moldy $20 stacks in the gun safe) when others didn’t and/or competing with illicit cash supported money laundering operations in direct competition. As far as the stuff you’re talking about, it’s called running a business and what % of the business comes from pot business will influence your total sales and bottom line. Example: How many soils companies do you need locally now? If you didn’t pay taxes and/or benefitted from government assistance etc. during the illicit times, then you can thank the legit folks you hosed down that paid.

Last edited 1 year ago
Highlander
Guest
Highlander
1 year ago

You seem to talk in circles, rambling nonsense. Of course cannabis is dead in Humboldt, that was my point. Our local representatives should have done more at the State level. They sat on the asses and let it happen.

I would think most growers paid taxes, they probably didn’t claim it all. The only way to get and establish credit. You think they went into Harper’s and slapped a $100k on the desk, same with their boats, RV’s, houses, etc? Think about how many businesses have closed the last 5-6 years, been to the mall lately?

Humboldt is not a “one crop economy”. According to the Farm Bureau, the economic value of agricultural production topped $272 million dollars in 2022. The Humboldt County Crop Report can be viewed here: Crop Report. It is tough in Humboldt, one of the poorest counties in the state. It’s not just cannabis, the logging and fishing industries are a shell of what they used to be.

Tangled Massocells
Guest
Tangled Massocells
1 year ago
Reply to  Highlander

I’m talking in circles? “Think about how many businesses have closed in the last 5-6 years.” Followed up by “Humboldt is not a one crop economy.” Then something about the Farm Bureau economic value of Agriculture. What was the economic value of the Marijuana Business? Illicit or legal? Our local Representatives “should have done something”?

Anon
Guest
Anon
1 year ago

across the board, all sales tax is not performing very well”

Well no big mystery there. When a tiny elite faction of the community are the only ones allowed to cultivate, and continue to benefit enormously by dumping that product willy-nilly (unregulated) out the back door successfully destroying that market for the poor slobs without the free pass who are sucking air and somehow now surviving solely on fumes , OBVIOUSLY there is very little disposable income to be out shopping and surrending sales tax for ANYTHING!

What the hell. Not that hard to figure out. Their little private club of permit-holders can in no way make up for the thousands of sales tax-paying consumers fully deactivated by their ridiculous and punitive regulations. Ten mile high hoops to jump through that only the deep pockets could manage, and many of them have now been sucked dry and are abandoning their permits left and right. The insulting abatement war and exorbitant illegal levied fines were the final crushing blow to this amazing community. The BOS killed the goose and now they look at all the red ink and throw up their hands like they have no clue?

Langdon
Guest
Langdon
1 year ago
Reply to  Anon

Sounds like America since about 1680.

Unvaxxed and Overtaxed
Guest
Unvaxxed and Overtaxed
1 year ago

Bushnell saying, “We’re doing this to avoid the layoffs because we value our team members.”

hey Bushnell, do you value your community members? You know the ones who pay YOUR salaries? Time to trim the fat and put the money into the community, the taxpayers, instead of the bloated, inefficient and incompetent local government pockets. property values went up, which means property taxes went up, and government employees salaries and benefits went up . This reeks of fraud, waste, and abuse. The librarian makes almost 400k per year? GTFOH!

Farce
Guest
Farce
1 year ago

No Way!! You mean bungling and destroying the county’s #1 source of income has a negative financial effect?!! Losing 100s of millions of dollars annually is a negative economic factor?!!But Hey- at least the supervisors who fumbled it all are still getting paid very well. And John Ford got a sweet raise! Everybody else can go screw off and just be glad they are “Free and Safe”…

Rick
Guest
Rick
1 year ago

We need more handouts, bicycle trails, and DEI investment! That solves everything.

Langdon
Guest
Langdon
1 year ago
Reply to  Rick

No.
Growing more pot will solve everything. For the vast majority of Humboldt County residents, businesses, and government entities, this has been the party line for many, many decades – unquestionably believe it and support it or you are persona non grata. Only traitors will give up on the gospel now.

justsayin
Guest
justsayin
1 year ago

Whaa Whaa Whaa! They were just presented with a proposal to streamline and cut costs on their security systems but Hillbilly Rex and Bushnell turned it down because it took a contract away from local “Good ol Boys.” You’re either serious about cutting costs or you’re not.

LiberaLunacy
Guest
LiberaLunacy
1 year ago

Eliminate the Department of Health and Human Services and eliminate county employees pensions.

Fixed that budget problem for you! NEXT!

SamL
Member
SamL
1 year ago

Humboldt County has been killed by nepotism and corruption. It’ll be sad coming back to visit and seeing more and more economic blight due to poor management. Although, the ppl deserve it.

Bump
Guest
Bump
1 year ago

I think the supervisors need ‘to take a haircut’ as Bohn likes to say.