County

Budget Category : GENERAL GOVERNMENT

Budget Department : COUNTY COUNSEL

* Other includes all segments less than 1% of the total. Negative segments are not shown.

COUNTY COUNSEL

The County Counsel’s Office is responsible for handling the majority of civil legal matters for the County of Santa Cruz. The office defends, represents, and provides legal advice to the Board of Supervisors and County departments, employees, and officials. It also provides select legal services to County and cross-jurisdictional special districts, joint powers authorities, boards and commissions, including the Regional 911 Center, the Sanitation District, the Animal Services Authority, the Regional Transportation Commission, the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), the Flood Control and Water Conservation District, and the Grand Jury. Attorneys in this office provide legal services in the areas of litigation defense, land use, juvenile dependency, public health, code compliance, public contracting, public works, employment, conservatorships, taxation and financial concerns, law enforcement, parks, sanitation, and general government issues. Over the last year, County Counsel has been working on a special project to update the County Code. Amendments are being made to address changes in State law and changes to County programs as well as to address typographical errors, move to gender-neutral language and make the County Code a more readable, usable document for the public.

For additional information please see the full budget document.