Budget Subcommittee Could Be Disbanded
Ventura County’s once influential budget subcommittee that advises the Board of Supervisors on how to spend the county’s money has outlived its usefulness and should be disbanded, board members say.
“It was a place where you could debate and discuss before things became public--and that’s certainly not the case anymore,” Supervisor Maggie Kildee, who heads the panel, said Tuesday.
Instead, state law has opened the panel to the public and the press and, Kildee said, eliminated the candor and informal discussions that made the meetings valuable.
The subcommittee, which included two supervisors and 10 county department heads, developed such ideas as the four-day workweek and early retirement programs. Now agency heads often present the same information they will later bring to board meetings.
“It seems to be something of a redundant effort, doing the same thing we’re doing at the full board,” Supervisor Maria VanderKolk said.
Kildee called for a vote next week on whether to disband the subcommittee.
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