Background

The Nevada County budget for fiscal year 2024-25 is $387.7M. Approximately 46% ($167M) of the revenue to fund that budget is expected to come from state and federal governments.

Funding expected or promised from the federal government to our County does not usually get cut unless there is something like a country-wide recession. Listed below are cuts to federal funding that were made due to changes in priorities of the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government, and not because of a recession.

2025 Federal Funding Cuts to Nevada County

Below is the loss in funding to Nevada County from the federal government. As we go into the 2025-26 fiscal year, which begins in June, it is uncertain what further changes to federal policy, decisions, or funding could occur. Process to adopt the FY2025-26 Budget can be seen here.

1. $39M grant canceled for Phase 2 of Wildfire Mitigation

Nevada county received nearly $1M for Wildfire Mitigation Planning, which was Phase 1 of this project. This Phase 1 is successfully complete resulting in the plan for how property in Nevada County will be protected from the danger of wildfire.

For Phase 2, Nevada County was granted $39M by the federal government to implement the plan developed in Phase 1. Earlier this year, FEMA cancled the $39M originally granted for Phase 2.

2. $600K grant canceled for Public Health

This funding was granted to Nevada County and then abruptly canceled in March 2025. Nevada County dug into our county reserves in order to avoid cutting public health staff that would have otherwise occurred when the federal government reversed their decision on this grant.