Governor Jerry Brown’s much anticipated proposed budget for the State of California contains some good news for the Sierra Nevada Conservancy.
As part of the 2010-2011 budget, the Governor proposed an operating budget of $4.86 million for the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, approximately the same as the current fiscal year despite the State’s ongoing fiscal woes. The Governor’s proposed budget for 2010-11 generally continues the SNC’s funding for operations without significant changes with a total of 23.2 budgeted staff positions.
The majority of this funding ($4.1 million) comes from the Environmental License Plate Fund (ELPF), which provides for the SNC’s base budget, including staff and operating costs. A smaller portion ($515,000) comes from Proposition 84—the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Act of 2006—to support administration of the SNC’s grant program. In addition, funds appropriated to the SNC out of Proposition 84 for local assistance grants in the past remain available for allocation, and may be used for grants in future years.
Remaining funds in the budget are from reimbursements. As explained by the state budget website, these reimbursements are amounts received as a payment for the cost of services performed, or of other expenditures made for, or on behalf of, another entity (e.g., one department reimbursing another for administrative work performed on its behalf). Reimbursements represent the recovery of an expenditure. Reimbursements are available for expenditure up to the budgeted amount (scheduled in an appropriation), and a budget revision must be prepared and approved by the Department of Finance before any reimbursements in excess of the budgeted amount can be expended.
