At the heart of the County's stability - even in times of uncertainty - is its fiscal discipline and systemic financial planning and monitoring. It is important for the County to have strong fiscal management to ensure the County can continue to provide core services and the mix of other services sought by members of the public.

Data set which aligns multiple County of San Diego financial metrics to activities, programs, and process measures which ultimately drive the enterprise’s fiscal stability. The County measures fiscal stability by maintaining a high credit rating.

The County of San Diego measures staffing in staff years. In concept, a staff year is one person working full-time for one year; it is equivalent to the hours per year a full-time employee is expected to work. A normal fiscal year equals 2,088 staff hours (occasionally 2,080 or 2,096 staff hours). Two workers, each working half that number of hours, together equal one staff year. County salaries and benefits are based on the number of staff years required to provide a service.