This office is a Bi-County function with Yuba County acting as a lead agency. The office staff, consisting of a full-time Veterans Services Officer (VSO), a full-time Veterans Representative, and an Office Specialist, are Yuba County employees. Sutter and Yuba Counties share net costs (total costs less revenues) on a 50-50% basis. Sutter County's share of the net costs is appropriated in this budget unit.

The Veterans Services Office helps veterans, survivors, and dependents obtain benefits by providing information and assisting them in filing claims with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CDVA).

The office performs the following tasks:

• explaining eligibility standards for the various types of programs;
• referring ineligible persons to other sources of assistance;
• reviewing military medical treatment records and physicians records of treatment received after discharge to develop disability, pension, or survivors benefit claims;
• helping veterans obtain appointments for medical care or hospitalization at VA facilities;
• calculating income from Social Security and other sources to determine pension eligibility;
• evaluating and approving tuition fee waivers at state colleges and universities for low-income children of disabled veterans;
• working with families and local funeral directors to obtain burial expense reimbursement and government memorial markers; visiting veterans in nursing and care homes;
• conducting briefings at Beale AFB for separating members remaining in the community;
• consulting with the Public Guardian, Health, Social Services and other County agencies to ensure that veterans are aware of other assistance available to them;
• providing information about CALVET home loans and VA loan guarantees, insurance, vocational rehabilitation, education, counseling, military discharge review and upgrade, and other programs.

Revenues are derived from the following three sources: State Subvention program and administered and allocated according to a weighted factor of the claims filed by the office; the Medi-Cal Cost Avoidance program granted by the State Department of Health under contract with CDVA and allocated on the basis of qualified referrals from Yuba and Sutter County Social Services Departments; and the State Veterans License Plate Fund from proceeds of veterans license plates and distributed according to each County's share of total statewide expenditures.