In today’s newsletter, we comment on the arrest of Sophia Drotts, a therapist working for Contra Costa Health. We also update you on our thoughts about General Election ballot measures.

Sofia Drotts Case Looks Like a Failure of Contra Costa’s Expensive Health System

Many thanks to our newly elected Vice President, Denise Kalm for getting a handle on the Drotts case and considering its policy implications.

In 2025, Health Services in Contra Costa County spent $4.02 billion which was $1.01 billion more than FY 2024, a 35% increase.  The claim was that the cost increase was due to (in order of spending, most likely): salary/benefit increases, Medi-Cal expansion and new program funding. As usual, most of it went to employees, well over the kinds of increases in salary and benefits people in the private sector get to experience.   We all know that the Medi-Cal increases were due for the most part to provide healthcare to illegal immigrants.

But it gets worse.  We also end up spending way too much money to settle court claims when someone is harmed by these very-well-paid employees.  Here is one case, but only one.  There are more.

Employee Allegedly Groomed/Raped Teen

Just as we have seen in numerous cases, audits are rarely performed in California.  Just look at all the fake “hospice centers” in LA.  But it turns out that while this problem cost taxpayers a lot of money, the larger problem is the result of poorly vetted and managed employees.

Sofia Drotts, behavioral health clinician, was assigned to be a therapist for an incarcerated teen; we’ll call him John Doe to protect his privacy.  She has worked at John A. Davis Juvenile Hall in Martinez.  The charge is that she groomed him while “counseling” him in juvenile hall for the two years of his sentence, then went on to rape him for three months after he was discharged.  Naturally, the family is appalled.

“We trusted this professional with our son’s healing and well-being, and that trust was fundamentally shattered,” the teen’s mother said. “Our focus now is entirely on our son’s recovery and protection.”

This story only came out when a supervisor at the probation department gave a tip to Concord Police, whereupon Drotts was arrested on July 14.  But given the harm to the boy and his family, a civil suit is already filed against the county.   This is where we will end up paying for the failure of supervision that occurred in this overcompensated department in our county.

And?

Drotts is no longer in custody, able to go on with whatever she wants.  Instead of being carefully vetted, Drotts was praised in posts, speaking about her abilities as a psychologist.  You can understand, perhaps, how she was hired.  She is a psychology major with certificates in criminal justice, gender and women studies, and chicano/a latino/a studies.  See any issues with DEI?

But we don’t know how deep this rathole goes.  The family is worried that this is not a one-time problem.

“We are speaking out to ensure that no other family has to endure this pain, and to encourage anyone else who may have been harmed to find the strength to come forward,” she said.

One doesn’t expect teens to call out a problem; they rarely do.  Sexual abuse is profoundly embarrassing to the victim, sad to say.  But where were the supervisors?  Shouldn’t someone else be checking in with the clients to make sure they are receiving the services we are paying for?  Drotts was a probationary employee, exactly the kind who should have more supervision, not less or none.

The County should also review how it supervises clinicians who continue treating youth after release. Continuity of care is generally considered good practice, but it concentrates trust in a single adult with little oversight once the youth is out of the facility. Some counties rely more heavily on contracted community providers rather than employees for post-release support.

The Impact on Taxpayers

First, we are paying very handsomely for more health care services than we probably should be, given that our population has only increased by less than 1% since 2020.  But look at the one-year increase in budget!  Are we actually get more services?  Or is it just people getting paid more, some who shouldn’t even have jobs?

Besides having garnered too much of our money to run these services, we’ll now have to be responsible for the cost of the civil suit which will likely bring in a very high award.  And there may be other victims of Drotts.  While we feel sympathy, shouldn’t the overpaid employees have to dig deep and offset some of this cost as they were responsible for this employee?  I think so.  Or perhaps we fire some people for their failures.  This young boy has paid a high price for whatever got him into juvie; higher than the law allows.  And we, the taxpayers are going to pay a high price for the failure of County Health.

Our First Set of Ballot Recommendations

When I first arrived in California from back east 25 years ago, I was impressed with our state’s system of direct democracy. Most states do not mail out thick ballot guides full of impartial analyses, ordinance texts, and arguments from proponents and opponents. For the curious voter, the guides provide a lot of information to consider.

But in later years, I became more skeptical. There are often too many ballot measures to consider and the ballot labels are often slanted. Even the “impartial analyses” are sometimes not so impartial.

This General Election season we face 14 state propositions, a regional measure, and several local measures. Thankfully, the local measures are scattered around the County, so you are unlikely to face more than one or two of these.

This is a lot to consider, and I don’t think voters should feel guilty about looking to trusted sources for ballot recommendations, rather than wade through all of the material on their own. If you see us at CoCoTax as a trusted source, I hope you will check out our first series of ballot recommendations at https://cocotax.org/ballot-positions/.

Thus far, we have considered the state propositions, the regional transit sales tax (a hard no), and two local sales taxes (which we also oppose). By the end of this week, the County Elections Office will publish all the local measures. A few days thereafter we will update our ballot positions page to include everything that will be on the November ballot.

Upcoming Events

Although we will not hold a lunch in August, we will have a members Zoom call on Tuesday, August 11th at noon to discuss CoCoTax recommendations for measures on the November ballot not covered at our regular July 24 lunch meeting. Zoom link will provided to members ahead of the call.

CoCoTax Lunch, September 25: Proposition 43 with Scott Kaufman, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
Friday, September 25, 2026 | 11:45am – 1:15pm PDT | Denny's, 1313 Willow Pass Road, Concord

Scott Kaufman, Legislative Director of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, will discuss Proposition 43, which would raise the threshold for citizen-initiated special tax measures from a simple majority to two thirds.

The meeting will kick off with an update from Central San.

CoCoTax Lunch, October 23: November Tax Ballot Measures with Rob Gutierrez, CalTax
Friday, October 23, 2026 | 11:45am – 1:15pm PDT | Denny's, 1313 Willow Pass Road, Concord

Rob Gutierrez, President and CEO of the California Taxpayers Association, will analyze Proposition 40, the one-time 5% tax on billionaires, and Proposition 3, which would make the state's top personal income tax rates permanent.

The meeting will kick off with an update from the Contra Costa Water District.

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