Supervisors to Consider Cost-Cutting Suggestions : Government: Most reforms would streamline operations and shake out excess management. Inmates might be used for landscaping and maintenance.

Using inmates as groundskeepers, scrutinizing disability retirements, and basing layoffs on merit rather than seniority are among 13 cost-saving suggestions that county supervisors will consider this week.

Born of brainstorming sessions during this year’s budget hearings, most of the suggestions are aimed at streamlining county government and squeezing out excess management.

The board will review the list, originally presented by Supervisor Maria VanderKolk, on Tuesday and decide which suggestions are worth pursuing.

In a preliminary report to the board, county analysts show little enthusiasm for the ideas. County staff endorsed few of the suggestions and said others needed further study to identify any savings. No estimates on savings were listed in the report, but figures may be presented at Tuesday’s board meeting.

Supervisor Maggie Kildee said she believes it will be difficult to find large-scale savings because of the county’s past efforts at belt-tightening.

“It’s not as if we were walking into an organization that’s kind of grown fat and sloppy and happy,” she said. “Then you can make some real substantial changes.

“But when you walk into an organization already lean and trim . . . you don’t get that same sort of satisfaction.”

A county watchdog group has applauded VanderKolk’s effort to merge departments and find other savings.

Mike Saliba, executive director of the Ventura County Taxpayers Assn., said supervisors should look closely at suggestions to change the civil service system, audit disability retirements and create a third, lower rung of retirement benefits for new employees.

“The whole philosophy of trying to look at each of the departments, to see where further efficiencies and consolidations could be made, is something that should be an ongoing, continuous operation,” he said.

Union officials said they oppose offering a lower retirement plan and changing the rules for laying off county employees.

“The person has been here for that long period and put in his time for the county. It’s kind of like they’re cutting him loose before he reaches retirement age,” said Steve Wood, president of the Service Employees International Union Local 998. “To me, it just doesn’t seem fair to do to someone.”

Wood said such a change would also allow employers to fire employees they viewed as troublemakers.

At the same time, labor officials endorsed other ideas that would combine departments and eliminate management positions.

“This is not just a one-year process,” Wood said. “I think we need to be looking at some long-term improvements on how we provide services to the public.”

One broad suggestion calls for the county to “vigorously pursue flattening of the organizational structure of all departments.”

After hearing that idea, Wood said: “That sounds like one of the best ones they’ve got. I think agencies sometimes like to retain their identity, but I don’t know that that provides better service to the public.”

Kildee said a suggestion to use inmates as janitors, landscapers and on maintenance crews deserves further study.

The Sheriff’s Department, which supervises inmates, also supports the idea. But other county managers cite possible problems with unions and say the cost of supervising inmates could overshadow any savings.

Kildee said other proposals seem to shuffle people and departments around without obvious benefits.

One such suggestion, she said, would move the agricultural commissioner, the farm adviser, and the Solid Waste and Animal Regulation departments under the direction of the Resource Management Agency.

“I couldn’t see any particular cost savings or efficiencies,” Kildee said. “If there is, then I’ve missed it.”

A similar proposal would create a single enterprise district to oversee the Harbor, Parks and Recreation and Airports departments.

Kildee said she opposes lumping the for-profit Airports Department with other agencies, saying it needs a separate manager to develop use of Camarillo and Oxnard airports.

Other suggestions in the report include consolidating part of the Public Social Services Agency and the Health Care Agency, and using more in-house attorneys to handle liability issues stemming from workers’ compensation claims.