County Cool on Idea of Hiring a Consultant to Set Budget Goals

Although agreeing on the need to develop “a vision” for the county, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors said Tuesday that it is not ready to spend $10,000 to do it.

Supervisor Frank Schillo initially proposed spending the money to hire an outside consultant to assist the board in coming up with a mission statement and a set of budget priorities.

But a majority of the board, which is facing a $43-million shortfall this year, said it believed that a county administrator, staff member or outside volunteer could serve as a facilitator in future goal-setting discussions at little or no cost to taxpayers.

“I’m certainly in favor of putting a vision together,” Supervisor Maggie Kildee said. “But I’m frankly not in favor of spending money to do that.”

Supervisors Judy Mikels and Susan Lacey said they also see no need to hire a professional consultant to lead a discussion on the budget.

“If I hear one more motivational speech . . . I’m going to be very frustrated because I’ve been through all of those,” Mikels said.

Schillo said he was open to the board’s suggestions.

“I don’t know that we necessarily have to spend the money” to hire a consultant, Schillo said. “I was heading in that direction when we first started. But if it can be done for free, I’m for it.”

The supervisors asked Assistant Chief Administrator Robert Hirtensteiner to bring back some recommendations on a potential facilitator as well as a time and place for a future goal-setting session. Hirtensteiner said he would report back Jan. 24.

Schillo also requested Monday that the board consider a number of steps to reduce county expenditures and to better inform the public about the county budget.

Schillo proposed imposing an immediate hiring freeze, re-examining all state and federally mandated programs for efficiency and increasing incentives for individual departments to reduce their overhead costs. The supervisor also called for developing a video on the budget process that could be broadcast on local cable channels.

While commending Schillo’s proposals, Supervisor John Flynn said imposing a hiring freeze may be difficult because many of the county’s 100 job vacancies are in social or medical service programs mandated by the state.

“We’ve tried a hiring freeze before,” he said. “We’ve had situations where every (new hire) that was considered came before the board. And it turned out that the board approved every one because they were all emergency type positions.”

Schillo, however, said the hiring freeze would only be a temporary measure.

“If we’re going to get a handle on the budget and know exactly what it is we want to accomplish and how we want to do it, then it seems to me that we need to put the brakes on hiring at least for now,” he said.

Although some of Schillo’s proposals have been tried before, Kildee said it was worth re-examining some of her colleague’s suggestions since both Schillo and Mikels are new to the board and could provide different perspectives on these issues.

“I believe this opens up big possibilities for us to look at things in a new light,” Kildee said.

The board directed Hirtensteiner to review Schillo’s proposals and to bring back a report Feb. 14 that would include options on each of his suggestions.