‘Very Tough Year’ Seen for County Budget

County supervisors took their first public look at the 1990-91 budget Wednesday and acknowledged that making ends meet in the coming year is going to be a difficult task.

“Don’t get discouraged,” Board Chairman Don R. Roth told staff budget experts. “It’s going to be a very tough year.”

The supervisors must vote to enact a budget for the coming fiscal year by the end of August, and already officials are predicting that some county operations, especially in health care and human services, may have to be trimmed.

County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider last week submitted his proposed budget for the coming fiscal year, projecting a $41.5-million shortfall. Although the overall county budget is a hefty $3.2 billion, just a fraction of that is contained in discretionary spending--money that the board can allocate from year to year.

To overcome the shortfall, Schneider has proposed a 5% cut in all departmental budget requests. In addition, the recommended budget includes transfers of some money among funds and suggests increased service fees to make up the difference.

The state’s budget is also still under consideration, and the county’s financial projections cannot be completed until it is approved, because the county depends on the state for much of its money.

The state, however, is also facing a huge shortfall, so county officials worry that the final state budget may pass along more problems to county governments.

“It’s going to be a long, hot summer,” said Ronald Rubino, associate administrative officer for management and budget. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”