California is poised to have a record budget this year and tucked into Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $286.4 billion spending proposal for fiscal year 2022-23 is about $21 billion in extra cash that will be up for grabs. Monterey County is jumping into the scrum, hoping the state can set hundreds of millions of dollars aside to help finance three critical water projects for the Salinas Valley and South County. Brent Buche, general manager of the county’s Water Resources Agency, calls the surplus situation a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to get major funds from the state. The county is not holding back.