Taking the largest financial hit to help balance San Luis Obispo County’s $38 million budget deficit, the health and human services sector was the only segment that received public comments at the Board of Supervisors’ budget hearing.
“I come before … this group to urge you to continue support for the Healthy Aging program,” county resident Richard Page told supervisors at the June 9 meeting. “Our program has but one intervention: fall prevention and community fitness, which also includes a home inspection program.”
Cuts to the Healthy Aging program—an initiative meant to help senior citizens live independently for as long as possible—are part of a $9.1 million reduction in general fund support for local health services. It’s the group facing the largest general fund slash in the county services pool contained in the 2025-26 budget proposal.
“I deeply value our fall prevention and Healthy Aging services,” 4th District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding said at the meeting. “Unfortunately, the grant funding that supported our Healthy Brain Initiative has expired, and due to broader fiscal constraints, we are reducing some general fund support for certain Healthy Aging programs within the Public Health Department.”
The Healthy Brain Initiative prioritized brain health education and access to dementia care, with an action plan that spanned from 2023 to 2025. Paulding added that the county proposed redirecting money to “higher priority” areas like public safety and protection.
That service group comprises the sheriff-coroner, county fire, the grand jury, the District Attorney’s Office, the Office of Emergency Services, court operations, Animal Services, probation, and the Public Defender’s Office.
Together, staff proposed they receive the highest general fund injection of $22.4 million compared to other groups for the upcoming fiscal year. Its budget grew by 12 percent or $26.5 million from the 2024-2025 fiscal year. While the supervisors unanimously approved the budget for public protection, 2nd District Supervisor Bruce Gibson expressed worry.
“I’m generally supportive of that this year in that public safety is a top board priority … but I am concerned going forward,” he said.
The board’s other priorities are fiscal stability, meeting legal mandates, and meeting two tiers of debt service requirements that include homelessness, mental health, housing, water resiliency, and emergency preparedness.
Fifth District Supervisor Heather Moreno responded to Gibson by saying that the two sectors depend on different sources for money.
“I just want to remind the public that the sheriff’s department … they’re general fund-dependent, whereas Health and Human Services gets a significant amount of their funding from state and federal government, for which we’re grateful” she said. “Those kinds of funds are not flowing in for public safety. There will always be a significant general fund component to the sheriff because we have so many duties that have to be undertaken.”
Health services spent the most county funds—$363 million of almost $1 billion—in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, while public protection spent the next highest at $254 million.
For SLO County’s senior citizens, the prospect of losing the Healthy Aging program was so worrisome that the SLO Senior Center submitted 20 letters to the county on behalf of the program, according to a letter written by resident Sherri Barmazel Beller.
“We are not asking for the Healthy Aging program to continue in its entirety, especially under the upcoming budget constraints,” she wrote. “However, we would like to request that at least some of the programs continue. Perhaps a fee for the services can be added to help defray the costs.”
Other county residents even offered to donate money to cover the costs for those senior citizens who can’t afford it, Beller added.
Paulding noted that there’s some respite for senior citizens who make use of the program. He pointed to the county’s Master Plan on Aging that aims to equip the Public Health Department and the Department of Social Services to compete for grants.
The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the proposed budget for health services with a modification to encourage the departments to pursue grants that assist senior citizens. The supervisors will consider the final budget resolutions, reflecting all the changes they proposed, on June 17. Δ
This article appears in Jun 12-22, 2025.