Riverside County residents have submitted nearly 1,500 responses to a survey intended to give them the opportunity to share how they believe taxpayer dollars should be spent in the upcoming fiscal year.
The county budget covers a plethora of services — from animal control to public safety to public health — and continues to grow every fiscal year. Riverside County officials await more responses for the Community Budget Priorities Survey, which is available in both English and Spanish.
This year, the county adopted a $9.6 billion budget. The estimated 2025-26 budget is not yet available, and the county cannot yet say whether the budget will increase or decrease, according to county spokesperson Arianne Murphy.
“One of the things that came up during our last round of budget hearings in June of last year was a request and a recommendation from the community to do more community outreach,” Riverside County CEO Jeff Van Wagenen said, “so that a broader spectrum of our residents and businesses and other individuals who work in the county could be heard as well.”
With that direction in mind, the county wants to get the budget survey out to the community as broadly as possible, Van Wagenen said.
The survey launched in mid-December and will remain open until the end of March.
In April, the county plans to conduct five budget workshops, one in each district, to hear from the community.
The survey responses will be reported back to the Board of Supervisors, Van Wagenen said.
The recommended 2025-26 budget is set to be published the last week of May, and budget hearings are expected to be held June 9-10.
“I think (the survey responses) will have a significant impact on the budget,” Van Wagenen said. “We will consider all of the feedback we received from the survey results, all of the feedback we received from the community meetings, all of the feedback we develop and hear from all of our various efforts. And we will take that into account when we develop a recommended budget.”
Riverside County will not be able to fund every request, Van Wagenen added, but officials will take all requests into account and try to figure out the best way to deliver services to the community.
The county encourages all residents to take the survey, which can be found here.
