Appropriations rose much faster than department revenue
What’s the Scoop With Broach compared the District Attorney budget unit’s fiscal 2024–25 actual results with the fiscal 2025–26 appropriations adopted by the Kern County Board of Supervisors. Total appropriations rise from $42.31 million to $50.23 million—$7.92 million, or 18.7%.
Revenue increases by $756,030, or 3.3%, to $23.37 million. The gap reported as net county cost consequently grows from $19.69 million to $26.86 million, a $7.17 million increase, or 36.4%.
| Measure | FY 2024–25 actual | FY 2025–26 adopted | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $22.62M | $23.37M | +$0.76M |
| Salaries and benefits | $38.07M | $43.11M | +$5.03M |
| Services and supplies | $4.07M | $5.41M | +$1.34M |
| Total appropriations | $42.31M | $50.23M | +$7.92M |
| Net county cost | $19.69M | $26.86M | +$7.17M |
Payroll and operating purchases explain most of the increase
Salaries and benefits rise $5.03 million, or 13.2%. Services and supplies rise $1.34 million, or 33.0%. The adopted table also adds $1.99 million in other financing uses while capital assets fall from $411,496 to $60,000.
Those object totals establish where the county placed spending authority, but the summary table does not disclose positions filled, prosecutor caseloads, vendor contracts or trial outcomes. A larger salary line is not proof that every authorized job was filled.
The original finding is the widening local obligation
The accountability issue is not simply that the department grew. The object-level records show that locally financed cost grew almost twice as fast as the overall appropriation because outside and fee revenue did not keep pace.
That comparison does not establish waste or misconduct. Prosecutorial workloads, negotiated compensation and grant timing can all affect the figures. It does establish the amount county leaders authorized residents’ general resources to absorb within this unit.
Method and limitations
The newsroom transcribed the actual and adopted columns in Schedule 9, checked the appropriation against Schedule 8 and recalculated dollar and percentage changes from the printed amounts. Display figures are rounded only after the calculations.
The county now posts a fiscal 2026–27 recommended budget, but a recommendation is not final adopted spending. This report therefore uses the latest final adopted document linked by Kern County and makes no claim about later year-end expenditures.