Ventura County Supports Alliance

Ventura County officials agreed Tuesday to support an effort by near-bankrupt Butte County to form an alliance of financially distressed counties in the state.

Butte County circulated a letter earlier this month to the state’s 58 counties proposing that they join forces to share information and devise a political strategy to get more money from the Legislature for county governments.

“We’re not bankrupt, but we need to lend our support to those counties that are,” Supervisor Maggie Erickson said.

Although not bankrupt, Ventura County has had serious budget problems. State funding cuts of about $10 million last summer made it tough to budget money for local programs.

“We’re on the same eventual path as Butte County, but there are counties that are much closer,” said Richard Wittenberg, the county’s chief administrative officer. “Eventually every county will be there unless things change.”

The letter, sent by Butte County Supervisor Ed McLaughlin, said participants will be asked to attend a meeting to “plan a political strategy as how best to achieve a restructuring of the ineffective relationship that now exists between California and its counties.”