ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : Daily Developments

The Layoffs

Hundreds of Orange County workers are expected to lose their jobs early next month under a sweeping budget-cutting plan. Sheriff Brad Gates, part of the county’s three-member management council that has spent the past nine days considering where to cut spending, called the proposal “the necessary starting point to resolve our financial crisis.”

The Backlash

Word of the layoffs was met with anger and disillusionment from Orange County workers, who rejected the notion that they were still part of a government family. “This county family crap is totally unreal,” a parks groundskeeper said. “We’re not a family. We’re the workers.”

Some Withdrawals Allowed

U.S. Bankruptcy judge John E. Ryan approved a proposal for allowing agencies to withdraw as much as 30% of the money they invested in the fund to cover payrolls, debt payments and other urgent cash needs.

New Acting Treasurer

Acting Treasurer Matthew R. Raabe was demoted by county supervisors. Former Oklahoma state Auditor Thomas Daxon was named treasurer for the next four months. Daxon had been appointed as the county’s special consultant to the treasurer’s office two weeks ago.

Risk Assessment

Former California Treasurer Thomas W. Hayes, the county’s top financial adviser, said that although the sale of $3.3 billion in portfolio holdings by Salomon Bros. has succeeded in bolstering the county’s troubled portfolio, “it is still very risky.”