VanderKolk Gets Another Stint on Budget Panel

Ventura County Supervisor Vicky Howard on Tuesday agreed to relinquish her position on the county’s powerful budget committee to make room for her colleague, Maria VanderKolk.

VanderKolk, who was removed from the committee last year after a bitter board dispute, will take over Howard’s position on the 12-member panel when it meets next week.

“I have served on the budget committee for three years now and that has been a real challenge,” Howard told her fellow board members. “We’ve made some difficult decisions. . . . But I would like to step aside after three years of headaches.”

VanderKolk said she is “looking forward” to rejoining the group, which is responsible for formulating the county’s fiscal policies.

With a year left in public office, VanderKolk had asked Howard, who as board chairman is in charge of making appointments to the county committees, to put her back on the budget panel.

“I’m very excited about this,” said VanderKolk, who announced several weeks ago that she would not seek reelection in June. “I’m looking forward to any lobbying to be done in Sacramento. We need to talk to our legislators and continue to educate them on what the issues are.”

VanderKolk said she also is determined to make sure that the money raised from Proposition 172--the extension of a half-cent sales tax approved by voters in November--be used to fund the county’s law enforcement activities. The county expects to receive between $26 million and $28 million next year from the tax. “We need to come out very strong and make a clear direction on how the money should be spent,” VanderKolk said.

The budget committee--which includes two supervisors and 10 other top county officials--meets once a month to formulate fiscal plans.

The panel is considered the most influential of all the county’s policy-setting committees. Previously, the committee has come up with such plans as the county’s four-day work week and early retirement programs.

Every year, the head of the Board of Supervisors comes up with a list of new board appointees to the committee.

Last year, then Chairwoman Susan K. Lacey recommended that VanderKolk be removed from the committee and Supervisor Maggie Kildee be put in her place. Lacey also proposed that Howard be retained for another year.

Despite VanderKolk’s pleas to remain on the panel, the board voted 3 to 2 to go along with Lacey’s recommendations. Supervisor John K. Flynn was the other board member to join VanderKolk in protesting the ouster.

While Lacey said she simply wanted to get “fresh ideas” by bringing Kildee on the board, Flynn speculated that VanderKolk had angered county officials by suggesting cuts to internal departments during her one-year stint on the board.

But on Tuesday, none of the board members voiced objections to reappointing VanderKolk to the budget committee. At Howard’s recommendation, they also agreed to appoint Kildee as chairwoman of the group.

In addition to VanderKolk and Kildee, the committee includes Chief Administrative Officer Richard Wittenberg, Auditor-Controller Thomas O. Mahon, county budget chief Albert Bigler, Health Care Agency Director Phillipp K. Wessels and other ranking administrators.

“It’s been a very difficult commitment,” Howard said of her three years on the committee. “Maria would like to serve on it and I’m pleased to put her there.”