18 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY MARCH 20-26, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com according to a hospital administration representative. Other institutions also received federal funds. The Maj. General William H. Gourley Clinic, jointly operated by the Department of Defense and Veterans Administration, received $127 million. Nonprofit Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas received $31.5 million. And the County Health Department’s public health initiatives also benefit from federal funds ($15.3 million last year), which support initiatives ranging from outreach to boost enrollment in Medi-Cal to improving virus detection at the epidemiology lab. Local Government Many local government agencies rely on federal funding to support specific projects or simply to deliver regular services. That money is often first filtered through other agencies. “Some federal funds run first through the state and then are granted to us by the state but technically are federal funds,” says Megan Hunter, Soledad’s city manager. Last year, the City of Marina received a $2.4 million federal grant for improvements at its airport, where Joby Aviation has grown its research and manufacturing presence. King City received a $1 million economic development grant. Some funds are for more specific infrastructure projects. Seaside officials had planned to replace a well supplying its municipal drinking water system, with 80 percent of the $5 million project coming from federal funds—they were instructed to reapply after federal funds were frozen earlier this year. The County of Monterey receives about $231 million in federal funding, roughly 12 percent of its nearly $2 billion annual budget. In a Feb. 14 letter to United States senators and House representatives, Chair of the Board of Supervisors Chris Lopez wrote to express the board’s concern about uncertainty. “County residents have increased access to some programs and services because of federal funds,” he wrote. “The funds support County programs combating housing instability and food insecurity. They help the County program mental health services and increase access to healthcare. As a result, the sudden pause has a direct and harmful impact on County residents who fundamentally rely on these services and programs.” Fighting Crime Many federal grants to local jurisdictions focus on crime prevention. For example, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office received $600,000 for body-worn cameras; Salinas was awarded $1 million for law enforcement technology. The City of Monterey received about $11,000 for bullet-proof vests, and $250,000 to hire two police officers. Beyond grants, there are also legislated formulas that deliver funds to local jurisdictions. For example, the Victims of Crime Act (established in 1984, with a balance today of $4.3 billion) distributes money collected from federal white collar crime prosecutions to benefit crime victim support programs across the country. That means trickling down to local prosecutors (last year the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office received about $637,000 from VOCA, roughly half of its federal funding) and nonprofits (at about $400,000, it is the single biggest source of funding to the Monterey County Rape Crisis Center). VOCA revenue is down by about 45 percent this year over last year. Science and Conservation As DOGE directs various agencies to cut probationary federal employees, the local scientific community has been impacted. At least seven Monterey County-based staffers for agencies within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were terminated in February. Those include one meteorologist at the National Weather Service, and two scientists—a marine biologist and a physical scientist—at NOAA Fisheries who were working on sophisticated multi-year modeling through Climate Ecosystems and Fisheries Initiative to forecast ocean conditions. Nonprofits in this arena also receive federal funding. For example, the Elkhorn Slough Foundation was awarded roughly $19 million between 2020-2025. But with some of those grants having terms up to 2029, about $10 million of that funding is subject to uncertainty due to the current federal funding climate. (For comparison, the foundation was awarded $12 million between 2020-2026 from the state.) The California Marine Sanctuary Foundation last year was awarded a whopping $71 million grant from NOAA to boost climate resilience across various projects that include wildfire and flood mitigation in Monterey and Santa Cruz. To date, only $1.6 million was paid out. The grant is meant to support 21 partner agencies involved in the Regional Adaptation for Climate Resilience of Monterey Bay Coastal Communities. Much of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s funding (an oceanographic research center in Moss Landing) comes from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, but a significant chunk comes from additional grants from federal agencies such as the U.S. National Science Foundation, NOAA and USGS—over $18.8 million in 2023 alone. Other groups that received federal grants last year include Save the Whales ($209,685), Ventana Wildlife Society ($195,000) and the Santa Lucia Conservancy ($71,048). FEDERAL DOLLARS: HOW DIRECT BENEFITS COMPARE TO OTHER SPENDING The largest federal expenditures nationally are for direct payments in programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and the same holds true in Monterey County. This graph compares project and program funds (see chart, p. 17) and direct benefits (p. 20) that we reviewed; neither figure is all-inclusive, but each takes into account some major expenditures. Military compensation brings total federal funding to at least $7.5 billion. FEDERAL GRANTS, ETC. $1.41 billion DIRECT BENEFITS $4.69 billion $5 billion $4 billion $3 billion $2 billion $1 billion 0 MILITARY COMPENSATION $1.38 billion “County residents have increased access to some programs and services because of federal funds.”
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