Coastal Residents Say District Attorney, County CEO Bare Responsibility for Budget Crunch

Mendocino County’s Chief Executive Darcy Antle held the first of several listening sessions on next year’s budget in Fort Bragg on Tuesday. The goal of the session was for the public to provide feedback on budget priorities — what they want funded as well as what they are willing to cut. Among the priorities mentioned were two dangerously deteriorated roads, as well as need for the coast to get its fair share of funding for spay and neuter. Regarding cuts, residents said it was too late to trim the spending they believed was most wasteful — an expensive criminal prosecution of an elected official who ended up being fully vindicated. They called for accountability from the people they believed were responsible: the district attorney and the county’s chief executive.