County Report Offers Brighter Than Expected Budget Picture : Finances: Officials call the midyear projection of a $13-million windfall good news. But they caution that the government still faces serious fiscal problems.

Ventura County’s budget woes might not be as bleak as anticipated because officials are projecting an extra $13 million this fiscal year from spending cuts and state revenue increases.

The extra money will be used to help cushion a projected $36-million loss in funding for the 1993-94 budget year, officials said.

“It will help close the gap,” said county Chief Administrative Officer Richard Wittenberg. “At least we’re moving in the right direction.”

“It’s nice to have some good news when you hear bad news over and over again,” said county Budget Manager Albert Bigler. “But you can’t jump up and down and say everything is turning around. It just means our problems have been lessened a bit.”

According to the county’s midyear budget report, which will be presented to the Board of Supervisors today, the surplus is largely attributable to unexpected revenue increases and department heads curtailing costs.

Department heads held off on capital projects--for a savings of $1.2 million--and about 7% of the county’s 4,697 full-time positions were left vacant. Overall, departments cut their spending by about $8 million, officials said.

“It shows that we have not been spending money up the kazoo,” Supervisor Maria VanderKolk said. “We want to have the biggest fund balance that we possibly can. It puts us in better shape than some of the other counties.”

Meanwhile, the county is set to receive $1.2 million more than anticipated in sales tax revenue and motor vehicle registration fees, according to the report. The state is also expected to pay the county $2.7 million more than planned to fund social services and other mandated programs. Overall, county officials expect about $5 million extra in funding.

Since Gov. Pete Wilson released his budget several months ago, county officials have been projecting deep state funding cuts next year.

As part of his budget plan, Wilson wants to shift $2.6 billion in property-tax funds from local governments to schools. This cut would come on the heels of a $1.3-billion reduction for cities, counties and special districts.

In February, the supervisors ordered department heads to find ways to cut another $20 million from their budgets next year to help meet the $36-million state reduction. This year’s general-fund budget is $446 million.

The county’s $13-million surplus projection came as a welcome relief, officials said.

“I would not want it portrayed that we are floating in money,” VanderKolk said. “But this will help us.”

Although the surplus is expected for the General Fund, the county’s justice system is expected to exceed its projected expenditures by about $641,000 because of an increase in cases, officials said. The grand jury alone is set to exceed its budget by nearly $14,000 because of an increased workload associated with criminal indictments.

The deficit has been offset by the General Fund surplus, according to the report.

Auditor-Controller Thomas Mahon said that over the years, the county often has had a budget surplus because of prudent planning.

“It’s our position to be realistically conservative,” he said. “But we’re still not out of the woods.”