Sacramento leader: The county’s budget rewards failure, cuts public safety | Opinion

A budget is more than a spreadsheet. It is a statement of priorities.

Recently, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors approved a county budget on a 4-1 vote. I was the lone vote against it because I could not support a spending plan that increases funding for a department producing worse outcomes while cutting millions of dollars from public safety.

At a time when residents are demanding safer neighborhoods, cleaner communities and greater accountability from government, this budget sends exactly the wrong message.

The most troubling example is homelessness.

According to Sacramento County’s 2026 Point-in-Time Count, the homeless population in unincorporated Sacramento County more than doubled from 560 individuals in 2024 to 1,140 in 2026. Concerned residents continue to report encampments, illegal dumping, fires, public health hazards and deteriorating quality of life. Businesses are struggling due to these conditions and neighborhoods are frustrated.

Despite these outcomes, the county’s Department of Homeless Services and Housing received additional funding.

Taxpayers are asking an obvious question: What are we getting for the money being spent?

At the same time, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s office was cut by $5.9 million, the District Attorney’s office was cut by $2.7 million and Probation was cut by $2.2 million, totaling $10.8 million in public safety reductions.

Government should not increase funding when outcomes are getting worse while cutting the services residents rely on most.

What makes this even harder to justify is that jurisdictions across California are proving progress is possible. Over the same period, homelessness statewide declined by 2.8%. The city of Sacramento reduced homelessness by nearly 20%, while counties including Contra Costa, Riverside and San Diego also reported reductions. Meanwhile, homelessness in unincorporated Sacramento County increased 103%.

That raises a fundamental question about accountability. If Sacramento County continues to invest millions of dollars into homelessness programs, taxpayers deserve to know which programs are producing results and which are not.

That is why, during a recent Board of Supervisors meeting, I called for a forensic audit of Sacramento County’s homelessness spending. This is not about politics, it is about accountability. If programs are helping people move off the streets and into stable housing, we should invest more in them. If programs are failing, we should have the courage to redirect resources elsewhere.

You do not fix a broken system simply by allocating more money into it. You fix it by identifying what works, eliminating what does not and demanding measurable results.

The cuts to public safety are equally troubling. Among the casualties is the sheriff’s Problem-Oriented Policing Team, a proactive unit that works with neighborhoods and businesses to prevent crime before it occurs. The district attorney’s misdemeanor unit was also eliminated, affecting every city in Sacramento County because the DA prosecutes cases countywide.

The cuts to public safety are equally troubling. Under the budget adopted by the board, the sheriff’s Problem-Oriented Policing Team was eliminated. While the board has since voted to reconsider that decision at its July 14 meeting, the adopted budget currently removes one of the county’s primary proactive law enforcement resources.

The district attorney’s misdemeanor unit was also eliminated, affecting every city in Sacramento County because the DA prosecutes cases countywide. No reconsideration has yet been scheduled for these cuts.

In 2024, Sacramento County voters approved Proposition 36 with nearly 68% support. Voters sent a clear message that they wanted greater accountability for retail theft and drug-related crime. Yet, just months later, Sacramento County is reducing the very prosecutorial resources needed to carry out that mandate.

I support helping people move out of homelessness, but compassion without accountability is not a strategy, and funding without measurable outcomes is not success.

Sacramento County residents deserve a government that rewards success, confronts failure honestly and follows the data rather than the politics. Most of all, they deserve a budget that reflects those values.

This one did not. That is why I voted no.

Sacramento County Supervisor Rosario Rodriguez is a small business owner representing District 4.