Santa Clara County is proposing to cut 655 positions and shutter health clinics to help close a $787 million budget deficit as it confronts significant reductions in funding from federal and state governments. County Executive James Williams described it as “our fourth year in a row of budget reductions” and “one of the largest that the county has faced in decades” for the $14.7 billion budget proposal.
The county said about 265 of the 655 recommended positions are currently filled, roughly 40%, but Williams said he hopes to avoid layoffs by placing individuals into other vacant positions across the county. The county faces significant cuts to federal Medicaid and food assistance funding stemming from President Donald Trump’s H.R. 1 bill, expected to amount to more than $1 billion in annual revenue losses in the coming years.
The state has also shifted the requirements and funding model for mental health and behavioral health programs following voter approval of Proposition 1 in 2024. The biggest way the county is coping with the cuts is through a new sales tax called Measure A, approved by 57% of voters, which is expected to provide $337 million. The measure increases sales tax by five-eighths of a cent for every one dollar spent and is in place for five years.
Despite the cuts, the county plans to open a behavioral health pavilion on the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center campus later in the year, which will include the first child and adolescent inpatient psychiatric unit in the South Bay. The county also plans new “satellite clinics in high-need communities.” Two county-run behavioral health clinics are expected to be closed, with services transitioned to other facilities or community organizations.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2026/05/05/santa-clara-county-facing-nearly-1-billion-budget-deficit-after-trump-cuts/