What are your thoughts on the county's Open Budget transparency tool?

I worked for the county for 32 years and I have never seen such waste of taxpayers money. I saw employees that didn’t do their jobs, came in late, took longer lunches and left early and all was possible because there is no time clocks and they were buddies with the boss. There is also over usage of extra help which would not be necessary if people did their work.

Build affordable housing. Housing the homeless decreases the costs of healthcare, police, fire, sanitation, human resources, charitable money spent on the daily needs of feeding, showering, and sheltering. Housing the homeless would reduce the 45% of budget used for Health and Human services so Humboldt can then invest money enhancing the natural beauty of this area to encourage tourism which will increase tax revenues. The savings and tax revenues could be spent on enriching the lives of all the residents, especially the children and seniors. Otherwise, the continued exiting of the youth and increasing of the homeless will continue.

I appreciate that the County works to be transparent in their budget process, and prioritizes community input in the structuring of budget goals and plans. The community has continued to show up for children and families, and the County response is reflected in the budget.

I live this tool and really appreciate Humboldt’s efforts to be transparent and engage residents in the process!

The tool is a good start, as for how the monies are spent & how this is decided needs to be more open to the public so they actually know what is going on around them. The Lack of communication with the citizens is dreadful. Meetings ugh!!
That is the staff repeating over & over each meet, still no resolve. Years down the road & then we are in a big hurt because the issues at hand we're not addressed or dealt with in a timely manner. Elected officials are hopefully doing the job at which the people who voted them in want them to do. ie: TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS!! Eureka as I remember as a kid was a Proud City, decorated each Holiday & kept it Clean of Trash, weeds out of gutters & downtown bldgs were kept painted & clean. People wanted to Visit here, to see all the Victorian Homes that were once Single family homes, & Not made into apartments or business offices sad to say. This is why we have so many motels is to hold the visitors & the Sailors when ships came in to docks. Social services for Rehabs have gotten their fair share from the county they can file for grants too. We need more Dentists In Eureka alone, we also need something for young kids to do in order to keep them from making bad choices. Family functions of sorts. Bored kids get into Adult situations. Having said all that I'm at the real point of my response in the first place; "Trail from Eureka to Arcata"!! this is a perfect example of Saturday night Live "Jane you ignorant ~*#? No offense but seriously who said to do this & spend that much money on something that we DO NOT NEED! a paved route for homeless to push their carts from one City & back. That took a college degree to come up with this idea of course but still isn't done YET!! Needs more funds, plus cutting the trees down. If you take a good look along there you will notice campsites already in place. This is a breeding place for muggings etc etc etc. Wasted money that I didn't get to vote on how it was spent. This needs to stop & the raises put upon yourselves needs stopped also. Thank you,

This is a great tool for transparency & input in our local govt. thanks!

We need to spend monies on positive avenues for our youths. Instead of spending everything on the homeless and criminal element in Humboldt. I’m a RN and have been attacked by patients who were not elderly, just mad we didn’t give them drugs and the EPD does nothing to deter the behavior. If I’m lucky the cops show up hours later once the assault has happened. And when I or another employee pushes for charges to be pressed nothing happens. Despite the fact there are now state and federal law that prohibits this.
Those of use who are law abiding are being driven out by the counties commitment to the criminals.
My children should have safe places to go and this should be our communities priority

I am concerned about the fact that Health and Human Services comprise almost 45% of the county budget allocation. It appears that the same people that are paying for all those free resources are not receiving all the services that their tax dollars should provide. For example, I must drive on horrible roads in Mckinleyville (that destroy my tires) because the money is instead going to social programs. I can understand the reasoning behind providing free food, clothing, housing, medical care, schooling, in-home support for the disabled, and even child-care for the working poor, but I think that there are many optional social programs that could be cut so that the people paying for it all don't have to sacrifice some of the public services that they too need.
I don't mean to be selfish, but I see that there are several human service groups vying for part of the pie, and I wish to put in a vote for us-the ones that foot the bill with all our tax dollars, etc.-don't forget our needs!

Mental health services for children and families are extremely limited in this county, which means that many families and children struggle, resulting in children exhibiting challenging behaviors that cause them to be suspended or expelled from school as children and leading to potential substance use and criminal behavior later in their lives. Humboldt county needs to take preventative action so that families and children have access to the support they need to grow up to be healthy, contributing members of our community.

A new Detox Center with more beds, free as well as a sliding scale cost option. Also be willing to take insurance. Pay the employees at detox an appropriate/livable wage, require drug and alcohol counseling certification from staff. Perhaps work with the hospital to have the detox center at the hospital...Our current Detox center is not up to code there are raccoons and skunks living in the attic, the staff is not certified and are allowed to administer drugs...it isn't safe. Maybe open another real treatment center with certified counselors give local people a fighting chance....maybe even a youth rehab? - Just ideas, thanks for asking :)