The local financing requirement grew much faster than spending
What’s the Scoop With Broach compared the Treasurer-Tax Collector budget unit’s fiscal 2024–25 actual results with Kern County’s adopted 2025–26 plan. Appropriations rise from $6,910,428 to $8,516,936—a $1,606,508 increase, or 23.2%.
Revenue rises only $162,619 to $6,655,193. As a result, the magnitude of net county cost rises from $417,854 to $1,861,743. The $1,443,889 increase equals 345.5%, meaning the planned local financing requirement is 4.5 times the prior actual amount.
| Measure | FY 2024–25 actual | FY 2025–26 adopted | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $6.49M | $6.66M | +$0.16M |
| Salaries and benefits | $3.73M | $4.35M | +$0.62M |
| Services and supplies | $3.18M | $3.30M | +$0.12M |
| Other financing uses | $0 | $0.86M | +$0.86M |
| Net county cost | $0.42M | $1.86M | +$1.44M |
One new line accounts for more than half of the increase
The adopted column adds $862,710 in other financing uses where the prior actual column shows none. That line equals 53.7% of the entire appropriation increase. Salaries and benefits add $620,990, while services and supplies add $122,808.
The schedule also shifts the revenue mix. Miscellaneous revenue drops from $864,618 to $37,000, while other financing sources rise from $60,000 to $861,934. Schedule 9 does not identify the origin of the new financing source or the recipient of the financing-use line.
What the records establish—and what they do not
The original finding is the divergence between a 23% spending increase and a 346% increase in the planned county contribution. Revenue covers less of the unit after a transfer-sized expense appears and miscellaneous receipts fall.
The summary does not report delinquent-tax collections, investment performance, staffing vacancies or processing times. It cannot show whether the added funding is excessive or sufficient, and the financing entries may be internal transfers rather than outside costs.
Method and limitations
The newsroom transcribed Schedule 9’s actual and adopted columns and recalculated dollar and percentage changes from unrounded values. Kern prints net county cost as a negative balancing figure; this report uses its absolute magnitude as the local financing requirement.
An adopted budget authorizes spending but does not prove it occurred. Transaction-level ledgers and the county’s later actual results are needed to trace the new financing entries and test whether the planned increase materialized.