Fresno County axes homeless administrator position. It came with a $20,000 raise
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors adopted a plan Tuesday that continues funding homeless triage centers and other services, but denied a proposed administrative position for homeless efforts, axing the nearly $20,000 raise that came with it.
County Chief Administrative Officer Jean Rousseau advocated redefining a position for the evolving effort to solve homelessness. Gov. Gavin Newsom has named the state’s homeless problem as a priority and announced emergency plans for $650 million aimed at the problem.
About $11.5 million in emergency grants area headed to the city of Fresno and Fresno County in the coming weeks, Newsom announced last month.
Rousseau said Principal Administrative Analyst Sonia De La Rosa has been juggling the new efforts toward tackling homelessness, including the county’s 14-point plan and two separate governing boards.
Under Rousseau’s plan, De La Rosa would be given the title of “Homeless Program Administrator,” or something similar, and get a pay raise in annual salary and benefits of $19,369.
“In a county of over 7,000 employees, it requires some type of change now and then, and this is one of them,” Rousseau said. “We’re really proud of the work she’s done.”
The proposed position change and the raise failed to get enough support to pass. Supervisors Buddy Mendes and Nathan Magsig cast the two “yes” votes. Supervisors Steve Brandau, Sal Quintero and Brian Pacheco voted “no.”
De La Rosa declined to comment. She made $147,530 in salary and benefits in 2018, according to The Bee’s database.
Budget headed toward ‘belt-tightening’
Brandau said he’s been advised by county staffers that the county’s budget is headed into a “belt-tightening” phase. He said rather than give De La Rosa a raise, some of her workload not related to homelessness should be shifted to another employee.
“I believe she’s done a great job and I actually think she’s a fantastic worker,” he said. “For me as a supervisor, I’d feel very hypocritical in the coming months if I’m going to be telling people that we have limited number of dollars to go around when we can give raises at the very top.”
Fresno County and the Fresno-Madera Continuum of Care are eligible for $2.3 million and $2.9 million, respectively, from the state’s Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Program in the coming year, according to county documents. That report was drawn up by De La Rosa.
That money was accepted Tuesday by the board, with only Brandau voting “no.”
As money is pouring into the county and its 15 cities, the staff responsibilities are increasing and the need for oversight over that money increases, according to Magsig. The changes to the position warrant a raise, he said.
“Sonia has been fantastic at finding a way to weave the 15 cities together,” he said.
There are about 2,500 homeless people in Fresno and Madera counties, according to the latest annual tally from the Continuum of Care. The Continuum conducted a new count last month but those numbers are not public yet.
Quintero said the county’s department of human services has traditionally overseen many issues related to homelessness. Naming the new position would be redundant, he argued.
“We have already that particular department that oversees those programs,” he said. “I feel we’ve already got some of that structure.”
