Countywide : County Forecast Includes Layoffs

Ventura County should consider laying off employees and cutting programs over the next five years as county revenues flatten and the state continues to under-finance local programs it mandates, county Auditor-Controller Norman R. Hawkes said Tuesday.

Hawkes presented a five-year financial forecast for the county to the Board of Supervisors, pointing out several factors that may hurt the county’s budget in the near future.

He said that as relations continue to warm between the United States and the Soviet Union, federal defense spending will level off in the county. In 1988, defense spending came to about $396 million locally, Hawkes said.

A defense slowdown will mean fewer new jobs and fewer house sales in Ventura County, he said. While property taxes--the county’s biggest single revenue source--will continue to rise, the rate will be slower than in recent years, Hawkes said.

County Administrative Officer Richard Wittenberg said that because 95% of county expenditures are made for programs the state requires, such as health care, welfare and jails, the supervisors’ options to save money are few and difficult.

However, he said, cuts in workers or programs are not under consideration.