County May Ax More Than 700 Unfilled Jobs : Government: Cuts in unspecified programs will also be needed to close the $23-million budget gap.

With the budget picture worsening almost weekly, county officials on Friday proposed scaling back the size of government sharply by axing more than 700 positions that are now vacant.

The move, combined with a 16-month freeze on nearly 700 other now-vacant positions, is aimed at cutting $16.4 million a year from the county’s ailing budget.

“This isn’t going to be enough,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Roger R. Stanton conceded in announcing the proposals. “(But) this is a good first step.”

The proposal on the vacant positions, reached after a four-week review by Stanton, Supervisor Don R. Roth and the county staff, will go before the full Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. It came out on the same day that the county got even more bad news from its budget people: The county’s total budget shortfall for the current fiscal year now stands at nearly $23 million--a full $1.5 million more than had been predicted 10 days ago.

That means having to make up a general-revenue gap of nearly $18 million by making unspecified cuts in county programs, dipping into contingency funds and taking other cost-saving measures.

It’s the biggest mid-year budget adjustment in recent county memory, officials say.

“I’ve been here 18 years, and I’m not aware of one this large,” said county budget director Ronald S. Rubino.

In response to the sobering new numbers, the county staff recommended Friday that supervisors direct a review of all county programs to search for “permanent base budget reductions”--meaning that some county programs and positions could fall victim to tight fiscal times.

“Things have to change,” one county budget analyst said. “We simply can’t go on the way we have been.”

For fiscal year 1992-93, which begins in July, the numbers are only expected to grow worse, with a projected budget shortfall of $65 million.

County officials blame the tight budget in large measure on the recession.

But other factors are to blame as well, they say, such as the shifting burden from federal and state programs to the county; the increased demand for health and welfare assistance; and the spate of newly incorporated cities in Orange County, leaving the county with reduced revenue from those cities but with many of the same health and safety responsibilities as before.

For weeks, Stanton has been billing Friday’s report as a key first step in the attempt to “right-size” the county government.

There are 2,228 vacant positions in county government due to retirements, promotions and other work changes. Under the newly released plan, 709 positions--or 31.8%--would be eliminated entirely.

County officials say these posts run the gamut in duties--from administrative and managerial positions down through support, clerical and technical staff. For instance, the Sheriff’s Department would lose 210 of its 369 now-vacant positions--or 56.9%--under the current plan. That includes 35 deputy-trainees, as well as a host of administrative, clerical and support posts. These include both regular and seasonal “extra help” positions.

Sheriff Brad Gates said “there’s no question” that such cuts would have an adverse affect on public safety, impacting such operations as the county crime lab, the coroner’s office, the jail system and Sheriff’s Department patrols.

“We’re close to closing down sections of the jail because we won’t have money to operate them,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of hurt across the system.”

In addition, the proposed cuts would affect the county’s Health Care Agency, which would lose 43 of its 198 total vacancies, or 21.7%.

But the supervisors aren’t sparing themselves from the cutbacks.

Stanton would lose six of his seven support staff and aide positions that are now vacant, while the other four supervisors combined would lose nine out of a total of 11 vacant positions, officials say.

Beyond the eliminated positions, the plan calls for freezing 695.5 regular and seasonal positions through at least June, 1993. These positions normally would have been opened up this June.

But it also allows supervisors to hire new employees to fill 823.5 positions deemed important. For instance, if a position was found essential to public safety or to producing revenue, the staff is recommending it be filled.

As the county government moves to privatize many of its operations, more review of jobs will have to come in months ahead, county officials promised.

“To have a balanced budget,” said Roth, “we’re going to have to reduce the size of government.”

The report drew a mixed reaction from government watchers.

Richard Munoz, business agent for Service Employees International Union Local 787, which represents about 600 county employees, said his union will be reviewing the report carefully to see who is most affected by the cuts.

“They have too many supervisors now, too much management,” he said. “So we’ll be curious to see what this says.”

But Ray Harbour, a director with Taxpayers Action Network, a county group that helped force supervisors to rescind a pay raise last year, praised the proposal as showing the county’s sincerity in addressing tough fiscal times.

“Government’s exploding,” he said. “This is a start, an absolute start . . . (in) cutting the fat in government without hurting the people.”

Many Positions, Few Openings Orange County government plans to fill only 37% of its vacant positions. The rest will be eliminated or will stay frozen. Jobs to be filled: 823.5 Jobs to be deleted: 709 Jobs to stay forzen: 695.5 Source: County Administrative Office