Supervisors Eliminate 200 Positions : Budget: Deputy D.A.s, librarians and social workers will be among those losing jobs. Layoffs must be made by Nov. 21.

With audible gasps from an audience of mostly county workers, Ventura County supervisors on Tuesday voted to cut 200 positions and slash funding for dozens of county programs to offset a projected $10-million loss in state revenue.

Unanimously adopting a $791-million budget, the supervisors agreed to cut library services, gut assistance to war veterans, reduce social services and close the Ventura Avenue fire station--among numerous other reductions.

While board members made good on their pledge to buffer law enforcement agencies from the worst cuts, the supervisors decided to slash the county’s internal departments.

In the personnel department, where the supervisors mandated an unprecedented 14% reduction, workers left in tears after learning that five employees would be laid off. Twenty-one maintenance workers and custodians will be cut from the General Services Agency. Also, the Information Systems Department, responsible for maintaining the county’s vast computer and telephone network, will lose nearly $1 million of its $14.5-million budget.

Up to 100 county workers--including deputy district attorneys, librarians and social workers--are expected to be laid off. Eligible employees will be offered early retirement, officials said. The remaining 100 positions targeted for elimination are now vacant--largely because of a hiring freeze in place since January.

The supervisors told department heads Tuesday to make the layoffs by Nov. 21.

Officials said the mood at the Government Center is the worst they had seen since the Proposition 13 tax-cutting initiative was passed in 1978.

“We’ve made tough decisions,” Supervisor Vicky Howard said. “Tempers have flared and people are crying.”

And there could still be more cuts to come, depending on decisions yet to be made in Sacramento.

State lawmakers, facing their own budget crisis, have decided to raid $2.8 billion in property tax revenue that the state had been giving to cities, counties and special districts.

But the lawmakers are divided over how much to take from each jurisdiction. Some legislators have suggested cutting the revenue to counties by $740 million, while Gov. Pete Wilson has proposed cutting the counties’ revenue by $475 million.

The supervisors on Tuesday based their cuts on a $475-million cutback to counties, which would spell a $10-million reduction locally. They said the county will be able to weather several million more in cuts by taking money from its emergency reserves.

But if the state cuts grow larger than $740 million, county officials would be forced to find more ways to slash costs.

“Even as we are sitting here making these kinds of cuts, the state cannot decide if they are going to cut us by $490 million or $550 million or $700 million,” Supervisor Maggie Kildee said. “We have done the best that we can. Now it is up to the state.”

Added Howard: “We’re dealing with a Jell-O budget.”

Since the state budget impasse began in July, supervisors have been trying to decide how they would deal with the uncertainty. Department heads on Monday told the board how they would make a 10% reduction in spending.

Although they all came prepared to chop their budgets, the board’s sweeping cuts came as a shock to some department heads.

Grim-faced officials who filled the board chambers watched in disbelief as the supervisors spent nearly four hours Tuesday slicing through the budget, line by line.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Randy Feltman, the county’s mental health director.

“I’m devastated,” said Personnel Director Ron Komers, adding that he plans to hand out pink slips by Friday.

While the public probably will not notice some of the reductions, some of the most visible cutbacks include:

* Nearly $2.2 million in reductions at libraries. While the board decided against cutting the Adult Literacy Program and closing the libraries in Piru, Meiners Oaks and on Ventura Avenue, they slashed funding for books and personnel. Up to 30 library positions are expected to be lost and hours will be cut. All libraries in the county system will be closed on Sundays.

* Nearly $3.5 million in cuts to fire services. The Ventura Avenue station, which provides fire and rescue services to residential neighborhoods along the northern section of Ventura Avenue, will be closed. Engine companies in Simi Valley, Moorpark and Camarillo will be scaled back. Seven positions, all vacant, will be eliminated.

* Unspecified cuts in medical and mental health services. The board gave the county Department of Mental Health and the Ventura County Medical Center $1.6 million to offset unexpected drops in sales tax revenue and patient payments. But the allocation fell short of the $3.5 million the two departments had requested.

Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury, whose budget was cut by $497,000--or 5%--said he will have to lay off eight employees almost immediately and expects more layoffs will be necessary to achieve the reduction.

“The prosecutor’s office is not going to look like it did a year ago, or even six months ago, after we finish the layoffs,” Bradbury said. A 5% cut would not be so bad if it had not come on the heels of a 4 1/2% cut in the last budget.

Still, he said, “We’ll do it. We’ll roll up our sleeves and get the job done.”

Times correspondent Kay Saillant contributed to this story.

County Cutbacks Fire Department: Ventura Avenue station to be closed. Engine companies in Simi Valley, Moorpark and Camarillo to be scaled back.

Libraries: Up to 30 positions to be cut. All libraries to be closed Sundays. Bookmobile to be eliminated.

Social Services: Ten positions to be cut from 772-member staff. Veterans services to be dramatically reduced.

Sheriff’s Department: Forty-two positions, all vacant, to be cut from 977-employee department.

District Attorney: Eight positions to be cut from 195-member staff.

Public Defender: Three positions to be cut from the 60-member staff.

Courts: Five positions to be cut from staff of 155.

Corrections Services Agency: Twelve workers, including six probation officers, to be cut from 325-member staff.

NEXT STEP

Ventura County department heads were told to cut positions in their departments by Nov. 21. Eligible employees will be allowed to take early retirement. At least one department head plans to hand out pink slips by Friday.