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San Benito County continues to discuss budgetary concerns

SAN BENITO COUNTY, Calif. (KION) - Budget discussions are continuing in San Benito County.

The Board of Supervisors is going over the latest recommendations today amid concerns over potential layoffs.

Recommendations include removing positions that were funded by ARPA grants, along with other positions.

These cuts have been the subject of discussion since unexpected layoff notices were delivered to various departments last week.

Supervisor Ignacio Velaquez spoke about the need to be clear on budget issues.

“It is our responsibility to make sure that all of us are 100 percent clear so misinformation doesn’t keep going out,” Velaquez said.

A member of the public spoke out on the lack of transparency.

"You haven’t been transparent. You haven’t been transparent with the fire contract. You weren’t transparent about a lot of things.”

Another recommendation includes a contingency fund of only $1 million instead of the previous $2 million set aside.

The board of supervisors voted to dissolve the budget management team and the budget ad-hoc committee to speak with department heads one-on-one.

The final adoption of the budget is scheduled for June 23.

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Sergio Berrueta

Sergio Berrueta has been in the news for quite awhile going from studying print media to entering the realm of broadcast.

Originally from Bell Gardens, California, in Southeast Los Angeles. Berrueta started his professional news career in Eureka as a newscast producer for North Coast News (now The Northstate’s News) at KAEF ABC 23 in 2022. He pivoted a year later in 2022 going from behind-the-scenes to in front of the camera as a multimedia journalist for Redwood News Channel 3 (KIEM/KVIQ) also in Eureka.

Berrueta studied journalism at Humboldt State University (now Cal Poly Humboldt) earning his Bachelor’s Degree. Berrueta was a staff writer, page editor, social media manager and editor-in-chief of the university’s El Lenador, the only bilingual publication in all of Humboldt County.

Before moving to the North Coast, Berrueta had earned his Associate’s Degree at East Los Angeles College in 2019 after beginning his educational journey in 2012. He also was on staff for the ELAC’s publication, ELAC Campus News, having been a staff writer, page editor, and online editor.

Outside of news experience, Berrueta has also been in education as an AmeriCorps tutor in East Hollywood from 2017 to 2019 and served in a government role as a National Hometown Fellow for Lead for America with the City of Arcata in 2021.

When not focusing on news, Berrueta is an avid amateur cinephile having written about films in free time. He also writes poetry, attempting to get through a backlog of video games, enjoys visiting new places along the California Coast, and trying to keep up with the latest music and podcasts.

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