This Editorial Board has often criticized county supervisors’ discretionary budgets, seeing them as glorified slush funds that are open to abuse. Indeed, former Supervisor Andrew Do pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge last year for diverting pandemic funds to a charity tied to his daughter, which diverted some of the funds to personal uses.
But while the Do scandal shows what can go wrong with budgets that evade the usual vetting, Second District Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento’s latest proposal highlights the right way to spend these funds. Sarmiento proposed spending $150,000 to provide emergency vouchers to homeless children and families during cold weather. That expenditure is reasonable – and provides direct aid to needy people facing emergency situations.
As the Register reported, the county has tried and failed to provide this sensible service: “The county had provided emergency cold weather shelters most years since at least 2007 … but has not the last two winters, instead trying to have cities provide more local services with little success.” This simple concept is caught up in a bureaucratic morass, so Sarmiento is looking to quickly cut through the red tape.
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The supervisor is working with school districts and city officials to identify needy families and to work out the details. And of course the devil always is in the details, but we’re pleased he’s working on this project as it’s the ideal use for supervisors’ discretionary budgets.
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