10% Cut Threatens 260 County Positions : Finances: Department heads tell supervisors at a budget hearing that the budget-slashing will take a noticeable toll on services.

Faced with the worst money crunch in 14 years, Ventura County department heads Monday said they would have to cut up to 260 positions and dramatically slash services to offset a 10% cut in spending.

At a daylong budget hearing, the county’s top officials told the Board of Supervisors that they would be forced to cut medical services to the poor, reduce support programs for war veterans, close parks on weekdays and gut numerous other programs to weather an expected $10-million cut in state funding.

“I have to be candid,” said Pete Pedroff, general services manager. “This will impact important services. And the brunt of those cuts will be noticeable.”

County Counsel James L. McBride added: “We either cut through gristle, muscle and bone. Or we come up with another option.”

The board is set to begin making cuts today as it whittles its $788-million budget for 1992-93.

Officials said almost all departments will be hit with a 10% reduction. Some areas, however, will suffer as much as a 12% reduction to offset the loss of state money. Law enforcement agencies are expected to be spared from the brunt of the reductions, with only a 5% cut.

The supervisors began the hearing Monday by telling department heads that the county is facing the worst fiscal bind since the Proposition 13 tax-cutting initiative was passed in 1978.

“I’ve been in government a dozen years, and it has been the toughest of times,” said Supervisor Vicky Howard. “We are in a deep but temporary recession. . . . We are going to make tough, painful cuts.”

Some of the reductions proposed by the county’s 25 department heads include:

* Laying off staff or doing away with vacant positions in virtually every department of county government. Of the county’s about 7,000 full-time employees, 260 positions would be eliminated, half of which are vacant. Other reductions could be achieved through an early retirement plan.

* Downsizing the county Fire Department by closing several fire engine companies, doing away with a fire prevention officer and combining the fire stations in Saticoy and Fillmore. Under a worst-case scenario, the Moorpark, Wood Ranch and Ventura Avenue fire stations would be closed.

* Closing the library branches on Ventura Avenue in Ventura and in Meiners Oaks and Piru, and shutting down the bookmobile. Hours at other branches would be cut and the Adult Literacy Program would be eliminated.

* Cutting animal control services and discontinuing a program to spay or neuter dogs and cats. Dead animals would be left on roadsides and sick sea lions would no longer be rescued from beaches by animal regulation workers.

County Mental Health Director Randy Feltman and Ventura County Medical Center Director Pierre Durrand were the only department heads to request more money at the hearing. Feltman requested an additional $1.5 million and Durrand asked for an additional $2 million to offset unexpected drops in revenue.

The two men said that because of the recession, their agencies have not received as much money as anticipated from sales tax revenue and patient payments. As a result, they said they now face a serious deficit.

“I came to beg,” Feltman said.

Without the additional county funds, Feltman said he would be forced to lay off seven workers and cut the number of beds that the county reserves for patients at Camarillo State Hospital.

Durrand said he would have to lay off up to 50 workers and close down 20 beds, severely curtailing the county’s ability to give treatment to the poor.

Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury told the board that a 5% reduction for his department would be excessive.

Last summer, the county cut most department budgets by 5%, but limited the range of reductions to law enforcement agencies from 1.9% to 3.5%.

Coupled with the hit that the district attorney’s office took last year and the proposed reduction for this year, Bradbury said he would lose up to 16 positions. He said two workers that assist victims of domestic violence and sexual assault would be cut.

“It won’t be a pretty picture,” he said.

Sheriff John Gillespie, however, praised the supervisors for pledging only a 5% cut for the law enforcement agencies.

“I’m going to be nicked pretty badly,” he said. “But it’s fair and equitable.”