4-Day County Workweek Hits Snag : Labor: Key departments ask to be exempted from plan. It was intended to save up to $1 million a year.

Several of Ventura County government’s largest departments are asking to be exempted the four-day workweek, a move that could substantially decrease the amount of money the county will save by switching to a compressed schedule.

County Personnel Director Ronald Komers said Friday that officials for the county’s health care agency, court system, Sheriff’s Department and several social service and mental health programs have asked to keep their employees on their current schedules.

“We had hoped to be able to close down some other facilities,” Komers said. “I don’t have a real good handle on it yet, but the savings will be less than what we had originally hoped for.”

The Board of Supervisors voted a month ago to rearrange county office hours from Monday through Thursday, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the assumption the county could save $650,000 to $1 million annually. County offices would be closed Friday. The new schedule is expected to begin June 21.

But Supervisor Maria VanderKolk on Friday questioned whether the county should move forward with the plan, if the savings will not be as great as anticipated.

“I’m not a big fan of the program,” she said. “If there are not significant savings, I definitely don’t think it’s worth doing.”

Komers, however, said he believes the county can still proceed with the shortened week. He anticipates that at least 2,000 of the county’s 6,500-employee work force will still be participating in the program, allowing the county to save $400,000 by eliminating a large portion of its ride-sharing program.

He plans to discuss the matter with supervisors at their June 8 meeting.

County officials said they assumed the Sheriff’s Department, Fire Department and some portions of the county’s health system would request exemption from the program, since they are 24-hour operations.

However, they expressed disappointment that the court system would not be able to participate in the program, even though the shift would require special permission from the state.

“We are hopeful over time we will be able to work on the court situation and recount savings from those,” Komers said.

Presiding Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren said the judges felt “there are services we have to provide five days a week.”

“This is not to decry the wisdom or the necessity of it,” Perren said. “We just have substantive and profound problems in dealing with it. At the present time, given what the law requires us to do, we cannot be open four days a week.”

County Treasurer-Tax Collector Hal Pittman predicted that some of his employees will end up working Fridays anyway, especially if they have to do business with the other departments that remain on the five-day schedule.

“I just think it’s unfortunate that the courts and some of the other agencies didn’t go along with it also,” he said. “It would have been a great savings if more agencies participated.”

Michael Saliba, executive director of the Ventura County Taxpayers’ Assn., said he will ask the supervisors to reconsider their plans.

“They should take another look at it,” Saliba said.

But Supervisor Maggie Kildee said she still believes the benefits of the four-day week will outweigh the problems.

“It will still save us some money,” she said. “As I talk with other people who are on a (four-day) schedule, I hear such good things from those people. Their morale is up. Absentees are down. I think we may find some added benefits.”