Ventura County, Cities Search for Final Cuts

As the state handed down its final budget Wednesday, local officials in Ventura County searched for ways to cut everything from law enforcement to perks for top administrators.

But while some local leaders talked of slashing into “muscle and bone,” others said the cuts were not nearly as bad as they had feared.

“We took a cautious and conservative approach and assumed the worst,” Simi Valley City Manager Lin Koester said. “This actually came out better than we had anticipated.”

County officials, however, said they must find a way to cut up to $700,000 more from their 1992-93 budget, on top of a $10-million reduction that they have already made to offset the projected loss in state funding.

Supervisor John Flynn said he will urge the board members to eliminate a costly perk that provides seven extra weeks of pay per year for the supervisors, county sheriff, district attorney, four other elected officials and the chief administrative officer--for a savings of at least $123,620.

City officials in Oxnard said they were considering cutting fire, police and recreational services. But administrators in Ojai said they hoped that they could restore funding for some recreation, social and senior citizen programs that had been cut by City Council members preparing for the worst-case scenario.

Since the budget impasse began in July, local officials have been forced to guess how deep the state cuts would go.

At one point, legislators suggested taking up to $800 million from the county governments while leaving the city budgets untouched. Yet another proposal called for cutting city funding as much as 27%.

In the final state budget package, the legislators decided to cut funding to counties by $525 million. City spending was reduced by $200 million, $200 million was cut from redevelopment agencies and $375 million was taken away from special districts--for a total of $1.3 billion.

The cuts all come from property tax revenues that were shifted to schools.

The budget gives schools the same amount per pupil as last year but borrows $973 million against future years.

Once the dust settles, local governments in Ventura County will face their worst reductions since Proposition 13 was passed in 1978--even though the cuts were less than anticipated for some, officials say.

Leaders of Ventura County government, cities, schools and colleges offered the following details on how they would handle the reductions:

Ventura County

County supervisors have already cut 200 positions--including librarians, deputy district attorneys and social workers--and slashed funding to dozens of county programs to offset a projected $10-million loss in state revenue.

The supervisors voted to cut library services, assistance to war veterans, social services and fire services, among numerous other reductions.

But since the reduction approved by state lawmakers is more than anticipated, county officials must decide how to absorb the additional cut--which could range from $200,000 to $700,000--into the $791-million budget.

Supervisors Maria VanderKolk and Susan K. Lacey said they would support Flynn’s request to do away with the additional pay for the elected officials and the chief administrative officer. The officials receive the benefit--called “in-lieu-of-vacation pay”--because they do not earn a set amount of vacation days a year. They do, however, set their own schedules and take off as much time as they want.

Camarillo

Camarillo city officials said the city could lose up to $275,000, much less than initially thought. The city’s budget is $26.25 million.

“We feel it’s a much, much (smaller) impact that we had initially feared back in June,” Assistant City Manager Larry Davis said.

To absorb the loss, city officials are considering deferring construction projects, such as the renovation of City Hall, roadwork along Las Posas Road and some landscaping projects.

Fillmore

Fillmore city officials said they had not received official word on how much the city would lose in the cuts.

Earlier this summer, city officials sliced about $110,000 from the general fund in anticipation of the cuts, said City Manager Roy Payne. If the cuts are less than $110,000, some services might be replaced.

City officials were able to “cut down to the bare bones” without layoffs, Payne said.

Moorpark

In Moorpark, city officials said they expect to lose $112,000 in state revenue, which could prompt reductions in police protection, Deputy City Manager Richard Hare said.

“If we were to try to balance it with cuts in police services, it would amount to a 5% to 6% cut in police services,” he said.

Also, the city would have to forfeit $40,000 to $250,000 in redevelopment funds, which would delay efforts to rehabilitate older housing and add new affordable housing in the older downtown neighborhoods, Hare said.

“It would just push back by several years the opportunity to do something to improve the housing stock in the city,” he said.

Ojai

City officials in Ojai had prepared for the worst, freezing all spending until the budget came in. “The worst case could have been a loss of $400,000,” Ojai City Manager Andrew Belknap said.

But officials said they now expect to lose up to $125,000.

Although the cut “still hurts,” the city will be able to restore the funding taken from recreational, social service and senior citizen programs.

“We will go back and reconsider the spending freeze for each program,” Belknap said.

Oxnard

Oxnard will be forced to slash $1.22 million from its general fund budget, which could force further reduction of police, fire and recreation services. The state budget cuts also mean that city employees will probably go without pay raises this year, City Manager Vern Hazen said.

Also, the city’s redevelopment agency could lose up to $500,000, Hazen said. It has been a tough summer for Oxnard officials, who two months ago were forced to carve $5 million from the budget to balance this year’s spending plan.

“We’ve cut everything we can possibly cut,” Hazen said, noting that police services were cut back and that public restrooms were closed to save cleaning fees. “We’re into the muscle and bone now.”

Port Hueneme

Port Hueneme City Manager Dick Velthoen said he did not know what specific cuts would be made to the city’s $7.5-million general fund as a result of the state budget. But tentative figures released last week estimated reductions of $250,000 to $300,000, he said.

“It doesn’t make me happy,” he said. “There will be reductions in services and programs.”

For instance, city staff members are recommending that the city drop a program to build 20 low-cost housing units because it cannot afford the $300,000 to $500,000 required to subsidize the project, he said. The city will put a priority on leaving police and safety departments intact, Velthoen said.

The city, however, has already gleaned $100,000 in cuts from the Police Department by obtaining the early retirement of longtime Police Chief Bob Anderson.

Santa Paula

City Administrator Arnold Dowdy said he did not know what impact the cuts would have on the city. “We need to go back in and analyze (the budget) instead of jumping out and making an immediate decision,” he said.

The city is into its second year of a two-year budget. “Our position is that we have a hiring freeze on and a number of positions are vacant,” he said.

Simi Valley

The new state budget is expected to slice about $900,000, or 36%, out of Simi Valley’s 1992-93 redevelopment budget of $2.5 million, City Manager Lin Koester said.

Projects that could be affected include road improvements and a plan to transform the historic Simi Valley Methodist Episcopal Church into a 300-seat community theater. Simi Valley officials have earmarked $2.5 million in redevelopment funds to renovate the 68-year-old church, which was purchased by the city last year.

Koester said he will present a list of redevelopment projects to the City Council in the coming weeks and ask which projects should be modified, delayed or dropped.

The state budget will also erase about $180,000 from the $28-million general fund spending plan adopted by the Simi Valley City Council in June. Koester said that cut will have little impact on the city because it had already moved to reduce expenses by leaving a number of jobs unfilled.

Thousand Oaks

The adopted budget includes a loss of at least $1.2 million in property and other taxes for Thousand Oaks, Assistant City Manager MaryJane V. Lazz said.

Earlier this year city officials stopped filling vacancies when they feared the losses could mount to $4.2 million. The city has left 31 positions unfilled, and the hiring freeze will probably be indefinite, Lazz said.

“We knew in our hearts we’d have to take some kinds of reductions,” she said. “We may take a look at some of the positions a department may feel are essential and allow some of those to be filled.”

Last year, the city eliminated 35 positions.

Ventura

City Manager John Baker said the city expects to lose $930,000 to $950,000. “Not far off what we guessed some months ago,” he said.

He said he will recommend to the City Council that the lost money be offset by a repayment of money from the redevelopment fund to the general fund. “If they take this recommendation, there will be no further reductions this fiscal year,” he said.

The city had already made $3 million in cuts from its $51-million budget for the current year. Less than a year ago, city officials also imposed a hiring “chill”--holding some positions vacant but filling fire and police slots--that resulted in the loss of 16 positions.

Baker said the city might have been in worse shape had it not made some preparations for the cuts. “We didn’t just say, ‘Nothing will happen.’ ”

School Districts

The state budget will provide elementary and secondary schools with the same amount of money per pupil as last year by borrowing $1 billion against future education spending.

Ventura County officials said this simply means that the county’s 20 school districts, many of which have already been forced to cut personnel and programs to balance their budgets, will not have to make any more cuts this year.

But officials warned that districts next year will once again have to dig deep into their reserves or be forced to eliminate more teaching positions to make ends meet.

Sarah Hart, financial director for the Conejo Valley Unified School District, said her district might have to cut as much as $2 million from its $73.8-million budget next year. “This is just going to delay the crisis,” Hart said.

To borrow from future education funds, the Legislature approved the governor’s so-called “poison-pill” provision that in effect will suspend Proposition 98, which sets a legal minimum for education spending based on the amount of state revenues generated.

The suspension will allow the Legislature to set school funding at any level it chooses.

“Ultimately, the ones that are being harmed are the young people,” said Bob Smith, director of business services for the county superintendent of schools.

College Districts

The community colleges will receive about 2% more in funding this year than last year.

“I think we’re going to be OK,” said Jeff Marsee, vice chancellor of administrative services for the Ventura County Community College District.

The district based its $62.5-million budget this year on 2% growth, so no cuts will be necessary, Marsee said.

Although the district fared well this year, Marsee said he was worried that the “poison pill” language would harm the community colleges in the future. “The poison pill helps make education fair game for future budget cuts,” Marsee said.

Student fees will also increase from $6 per unit to $10 per unit beginning Jan. 1. With some exceptions, students who have a bachelor’s or graduate degree will be charged $50 per unit.

Contributing to this story were Times staff writers Fred Alvarez, Carlos V. Lozano, Phil Sneiderman, Psyche Pascual, Peggy Y. Lee and correspondents Jane Hulse, Kay Saillant, Maia Davis and Caitlin Rother.