$836-Million Budget Cuts Nearly 200 Jobs : Supervisors: New plan includes minimal reductions for law enforcement and health care. All 16 branch libraries are to remain open.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors passed an $836-million budget on Tuesday that protects the county’s law enforcement system and health-care services from sharp cuts but eliminates nearly 200 positions from all other areas of government.

While most of the county’s internal departments were slashed by up to 16% under the Spartan fiscal plan for 1993-94, the supervisors made good on their promise to maintain what they called the most essential services.

The budget includes a 3% trim to the Sheriff’s Department and a 6% cut to the district attorney’s office--reductions that both Sheriff Larry Carpenter and Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury said they can absorb.

The board also agreed to transfer $1.6 million from the county’s General Fund to shore up the county’s library system, which stands to lose $3.5 million, or 40%, of its state funding.

The move will allow the library to keep open all of its 16 branches, although at reduced hours. Librarians also said the county bailout will allow them to continue the popular adult literacy program.

In addition, the supervisors pledged to continue the same level of support for the Ventura County Medical Center, which receives about $6 million a year in funding from the county.

“It’s a matter of community values,” Supervisor John K. Flynn said. “We’ve got to fund the people who deliver the services. The nurses, the librarians, the sheriff’s deputies, these are the people who are out on the front lines. I wish we could have done more.”

While largely protecting the high-profile services, the supervisors made deeper budget cuts in the Planning Department, the auditor’s office and numerous other areas to help offset a $13.8-million loss in state funding.

The board also opted to reduce the average monthly welfare payments for single adults from $302 to $295, cut the salaries of supervisor assistants by 10% and reaffirm plans to close down the Ventura Avenue fire station.

Although the state cuts were less than anticipated, the county’s final budget picture depends on whether the voters pass the half-cent sales tax in November. The money is needed to offset local government’s loss of $2.6 billion in property taxes to public schools, a shift in spending priorities adopted by the Legislature at the urging of Gov. Pete Wilson.

If the sales tax fails, the county would be faced with a $29-million cut in funding next year--a prospect the supervisors said they must now begin to prepare for.

“We can try to go home and say, ‘Congratulations, we passed the budget,’ ” Supervisor Vicky Howard said. “But we have to figure out what we will do in November if the tax doesn’t pass. We have to have our feet on the ground and ready to run with the situation we find ourselves in.”

Supervisor Maria VanderKolk added: “We need to make it very clear today that department heads need to be working on these Draconian cuts if the sales tax doesn’t pass. We have to be prepared to act immediately.”

Several county department managers said they cannot afford any more cutbacks without crippling the services.

“We are at the point where we cannot continue to cut,” said Personnel Director Ronald Komers, who was forced on Tuesday to slice six positions from his 56-member staff. “We have already suffered.”

Public Social Services Agency Director James Isom said his department is being squeezed financially at a time of unprecedented workload. “Child-abuse cases are going off the top of the charts,” Isom said. “I need the staff to investigate them.”

He said he is preparing to eliminate seven vacant positions, mainly social workers, just to help offset a 15% budget reduction this year.

“I’m frustrated with the process more than anything else,” Isom said.

Howard said she understands the frustrations, but stressed that the board has been forced to make tough choices: “We have adopted a painful budget. But we know this is the best we can do. I would have liked to be in a different situation, but we cannot fund everyone.”

Over the past few months, the supervisors have been under tremendous pressure from citizens to spare law enforcement from reductions. Board members said they have been inundated with hundreds of letters urging them not to cut any funding from the Sheriff’s Department.

Despite the intensive lobbying effort, the supervisors said they would still would have opted to spare the law enforcement system from the cuts.

“I would have liked to have given them the sun, the moon and the stars just so they can make our county the safest in the country,” Howard said. “We couldn’t do that, but we did the best we can.”

Bradbury and Carpenter praised the board for agreeing to buffer them from the sharp cuts, but said the action was bittersweet.

“I have very mixed emotions,” Carpenter said. “There are no winners this budget year. Every dollar that winds up in our budget costs someone else in the county something. I’m very aware of that. But I’m pleased the board has given the emphasis it has to safe streets.”

To offset the 3% cut, a reduction of about $1.5 million, Carpenter said he has already streamlined the upper management of his department. His deputies have also agreed to give up pay raises and bonuses this year.

Bradbury said he will cut about seven vacant positions in his department to make up for the 6% loss in funding, which totals about $600,000.

“The board has a tough job to do,” Bradbury said. “A lot of people are getting hit a lot harder than we are. I appreciate what the board did and we will do our best to make it work.”

Ventura County Cutbacks * Sheriff’s Department: Budget was cut by 3%, far less than any other department in county government. To offset the $1.5-million reduction, the sheriff has already streamlined the department, and deputies will forgo pay raises and bonuses for the 1993-94 fiscal year. No positions will be cut.

* District attorney: Budget reduced by about 5%. Some misdemeanors will no longer be prosecuted, but services will remain largely intact. About seven unfilled positions will be eliminated to help achieve the cut.

* Libraries: Nearly $1.6 million will be transferred from the county’s general fund to shore up library services, which suffered a 40% loss, about $3.5 million, in state funding this year. None of the county’s libraries will be closed, but operating hours will be reduced. Adult literacy services will continue.

* Health care: The county’s contribution to the Ventura County Medical Center will remain largely intact. But health care officials said they plan to cut 17 positions and reduce overtime for nurses in preparation of an expected budget squeeze from increases in indigent patients and stagnant level of reimbursement from various government sources.

* Social services: Average monthly welfare payments to single adults will be reduced from $302 to $295.

* General services: Animal control officers may be unable to continue rescuing wounded sea lions, coyotes and other wildlife from county beaches, roads and hillsides. The Animal Regulation Department will continue a popular children’s animal education program, featuring an Irish wolfhound called Big Dog.