Overview:
Facing an estimated $15.4 million deficit in the coming fiscal year, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors heard about improvements made to the county’s code enforcement department on Tuesday that have been in the works since August.
While the effects of President Donald Trump’s planned government spending cuts remain to be seen, concerns over a looming budget deficit emerged during Tuesday’s Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting.
A mid-year budget report presented by County Administrative Officer Paul Nerland estimated a budget shortfall of $15.4 million for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
At that same meeting, the board heard from the CAO’s office about overhauls to the county’s code enforcement department along with recommendations to expand the department’s capabilities, raising eyebrows from some supervisors over stretching their funding thin.
“The challenge we have [is] this board has made clear that we have priorities for new buildings, staff departments, wages,” said Supervisor Nathan Magisg, adding “at some point…we’re gonna have to say: ‘We can’t fund all of our priorities, so what is most important to us?’”
According to the budget report, the 2025-26 fiscal year is currently estimated to only see 2% in property tax growth, a decrease from 5.4% last year and 7.1% and 8.5% in 2023 and 2022 Property taxes make up around 80% of the county’s revenues.
Lower-than-expected tax revenues have also plagued the City of Fresno over the last year, with the city leader projecting at least a $20 million budget deficit in the coming fiscal year.
At the same time, the code enforcement department has been temporarily placed under the CAO’s office since August of last year and has been working to make improvements as requested by the board.
Among the improvements made to the department are new job descriptions, new recruited enforcement officers, a new and more aggressive case review process and soon, a request for proposals to bid for a new database that would allow the public to submit and track complaints.
Along with the improvements, the CAO’s office outlined recommendations to hire more officers, assign the department to work permanently under the County Administrative Office, add new administrative positions and relocate the department to an office in downtown Fresno.
According to Matt Constantine, who previously worked as the director of public health for Kern County and is currently involved in making improvements to the Fresno department, the county currently has over 1866 backlogged code enforcement cases going back as far as 2017.
“That’s embarrassing,” said Supervisor Garry Bredefeld, who voiced his support for changes to code enforcement and to hire more enforcement officers than the additional five recommended by the CAO.
“The people who are paying our bills are not getting the service they need when they’re dealing with code enforcement issues and we’ve got to change that,” said Bredefeld.
Supervisor Brian Pacheco agreed that more should be done to improve the department, but explained his apprehension to making significant changes while the county faces a projected deficit.
“At budget hearing, we will set those priorities because that will dictate where we go from here,” Pacheco said, adding “you have to do more with less and we don’t just get to keep throwing money at the problem.”
Chairman Buddy Mendes agreed there was a need for code enforcement in the county, but noted his concern over the effects expanding the department could have on rural residents in the county after historically having a laissez-faire approach.
“There’s going to be some tough deals that are gonna be done, because there’s some code enforcement issues out in the rural area that you don’t see in Mayfair, Calwa [or] Malaga.”
As an example, Mendes mentioned an unnamed, small community near the city of Avenal that has 31 structures and trailers, but, he said, only around half are permitted.
The board took no action on Tuesday regarding changes to code enforcement. The department will return to the board at the April 22 meeting and present actual costs for changes so the board can take action.
