Merced County supervisors can opt to use form before granting discretionary funds

The Merced County Board of Supervisors made an attempt Tuesday to increase transparency regarding discretionary funds but didn’t vote to attach any teeth to the process.

Discretionary funds have been a hot button topic for the board, most notably for Supervisor Daron McDaniel, who cast the lone “no” vote on his fellow supervisors’ requests earlier this year.

Every fiscal year, $40,000 is set aside for each supervisor to choose how it’s spent or to let it roll over. Some supervisors use the funds for district-specific projects, others use funds to support nonprofits and a few use the funds to employ a personal assistant.

Updated details on how supervisors use the funds were not available Tuesday, county officials said.

The board “accepted” a form Tuesday that supervisors can choose to use when distributing discretionary funds.

“The public’s perception is that they’re just uneasy with the process,” McDaniel said in an interview. “Whenever I got (voted) in, I was like ‘How can I make it more transparent with the public?’ This form would answer a lot of the questions folks would want to know about the money, and it keeps the organizations accountable.”

The form requires the organization requesting money to describe what the money would be used for, the fate of the project without the money, and whether the organization has requested money in the past. The form also acts as an agreement between the organization and the county. It requires the organization to return unused money within six months of the project’s completion and holds the organization accountable for using the money for the project it designated.

The board did not vote to make the form mandatory in order to distribute discretionary funds. Instead, the supervisors agreed to make it an option. Each supervisor can choose whether to use the form. The county’s current policy on discretionary funds only specifies that funds should be used for “minor maintenance needs, capital projects or special projects within the supervisorial district.”

The supervisors expressed mixed feelings about the form, though all voted in favor of accepting the form.

Supervisor Jerry O’Banion said he didn’t believe the form was necessary. “I can assure you that any funds that I have used for projects, I can assure you they were used correctly,” he said.

Supervisors Hub Walsh and Deidre Kelsey said they were open to using the form. Both agreed the form would provide accountability for organizations and guidance for supervisors when considering requests. Neither liked the idea of making the form mandatory.

Board Chairman John Pedrozo said he requires a written letter when organizations request discretionary funding and that every project he funds is documented.

Though McDaniel said he thought the board as a whole would agree to use the form, he felt having the option to use it was “a step in the right direction.”

This story was originally published July 21, 2015 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Merced County supervisors can opt to use form before granting discretionary funds."