Riverside County is once again holding a series of community budget workshops to give residents a voice in shaping the county’s priorities.
“The dollars that the county of Riverside spends are really to do one thing, and that’s to improve the quality of life of all those we serve,” County Executive Officer Jeff Van Wagenen said in an interview with The Riverside Record. “And since we are spending the dollars on the community, we want to make sure that the community has a voice in how those dollars get spent.”
Last year, the county held four in-person workshops and one virtual town hall workshop. This year, all five workshops will be held in person, starting this evening at the Corona City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vicentia Ave. in Corona.
District 2 Supervisor and Board Chair Karen Spiegel will host the event, scheduled to be held from 5:30-7 p.m.
“These workshops are about bringing county government directly to the people we serve,” Spiegel said in a news release announcing the workshops. “We’ve seen firsthand how valuable it is to hear from residents across every corner of Riverside County…and I encourage all residents to attend a workshop in their district to make their priorities heard.”
The remaining workshops are scheduled as follows:
District 1 — April 8 | 5:30-7:00 p.m. Supervisor Jose Medina will host at the County Administrative Center Board Chambers, 4080 Lemon St. in Riverside.
District 5 — April 21 | 5:30-7:00 p.m. Supervisor Yxstian Gutierrez will host at the Towngate Community Center, 13100 Arbor Park Lane in Moreno Valley.
District 3 — April 22 | 5:30-7:00 p.m. Supervisor Chuck Washington will host at the French Valley Library, 31526 Skyview Road in Winchester.
District 4 — April 30 | 5:30-7:00 p.m. Supervisor V. Manuel Perez will host at the Coachella Valley Water District (Steve Robbins Administration Building), 75515 Hovley Lane E. in Palm Desert.
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Van Wagenen said residents can attend whichever workshop works best for them, even if it’s not in the district where they live.
“Whatever works well for our residents, we’re glad to have them at any of our in person workshops,” he said.
This marks the second year the county has held the workshops, but it’s the first time all have been held in person. Last year, the District 5 event was a telephone town hall.
“The reality is that while the telephone town hall works well in getting to a broad audience, it’s also very costly,” Van Wagenen said. “What we want to do is, for that cost, really open it up for all residents of Riverside County, so that is on our to-do list for next year, is to do a sixth community workshop as a telephone town hall.”
The community budget workshops are just one part of the county’s ongoing efforts to make the budget process more transparent, easier to understand and more inclusive of the needs of the county’s diverse and growing population.
Other efforts include the Budget 101 guide, which is available for download in both English and Spanish, and the budget priorities survey. which closed February 28 and received more than 26,000 responses. Van Wagenen said the results of the survey would be presented to the supervisors in May.
The recommended budget is scheduled to be posted on the county’s website for public review in May with public hearings set for June 8 and, if necessary, June 9. Adoption of the budget is slated for June 23.
Earlier this year, Van Wagenen told supervisors the county’s financial outlook was stable, but tightening as economic uncertainties remained.
“Every day brings new news, and it’s difficult to try and see where the trends are headed,” he said at the time.
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