6 Top County Officials Say Pare Budget, Trim Services : Finances: White paper points to $41.6-million shortfall and suggests ways to prioritize funds and eliminate unnecessary programs.

Warning of a looming financial crisis, six top Ventura County elected officials called on the Board of Supervisors on Wednesday to revamp its budget process and recommended a plan to fund essential services and eliminate those that are not absolutely necessary.

For example, officials proposed replacing county gardeners with jail inmates, slashing General Fund contributions for libraries and reducing the staff in the chief administrative office.

“The fiscal condition of the county is reaching a crisis and time is running out,” the officials stated in a so-called white paper distributed to board members. “Strong leadership and bold corrective action is urgently needed to maintain the most basic services of county government.”

The paper was signed by Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury, Sheriff Larry Carpenter, Clerk and Recorder Richard Dean, Assessor Glenn Gray, Treasurer-Tax Collector Harold S. Pittman and Auditor-Controller Thomas O. Mahon.

Mahon said the six elected officials believe it is important that the board act quickly to determine its budget priorities because it is facing a $41.6-million shortfall in the fiscal year beginning July 1.

“We cannot afford to run government as we have run it in the past,” Mahon said. “We are going to either have to make serious cuts or entirely eliminate some programs. We can do it voluntary or we can wait until it hits us in the face so we have to do it.”

In past years, the supervisors have approved their final budget only after considering across-the-board cuts for all departments. The white paper is intended to discourage discussion of such blanket reductions, and encourage the supervisors to rank every service on a priority list, Mahon said.

Board Chairwoman Maggie Kildee said that she appreciates the recommendations but that the supervisors are already setting budget priorities, which include some of the same proposals outlined in the white paper.

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Moreover, Kildee said she agrees that each of the officials represented in the white paper heads departments that provide essential services to the county and should be spared the budget ax, but that health and welfare services are equally vital.

“In my book, the county is required to provide these services,” she said. Supervisor John Flynn agreed. But he said he still welcomed the budget recommendations because they encourage more creative solutions to the county’s financial crisis.

“I like the white paper,” he said. “I think it shows excellent cooperation among county officials.”

Specifically, the six-point plan recommends that the board draw up a list of budget priorities, consider consolidating some services and look at contracting more with private firms to perform various county jobs.

It also calls for re-evaluating the county’s policy of keeping substantial reserve funds and discourages applying for state and federal grant money for programs that will ultimately cost the county additional money. In fact, supervisors have rejected state and federal grants for years if they had to match it with any local money.

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Finally, the plan stresses the importance of protecting the six elected officials’ own departments from further cutbacks.

Although the sheriff and district attorney have received additional funding from a voter-approved sales tax initiative, departments such as the assessor’s office have been hit hard by past cuts.

Assessor Gray said his office has lost 53 positions in the last four years and is quickly falling behind in its work.

Gray said his office received a record 8,500 property tax appeals this year alone, and has a backlog of hundreds more from last year that have yet to be heard.

“With the amount of staff I have right now, I can’t handle that,” he said. Gray said that the county risks losing property tax revenue if property tax appeals are not heard within two years.