County Projects Cutbacks of 33% for Most Departments

Ventura County would have to slash the budgets of most county departments by one-third to reduce a deficit now estimated at $38 million and still protect public safety services from cutbacks, according to the chief administrator’s latest budget report.

But some county supervisors decried the proposal as too extreme and unfair to some departments.

“I don’t agree with that at all,” Supervisor Frank Schillo said. “It punishes people who are doing things right. I would never consider that.”

Acting Chief Administrative Officer Robert C. Hirtensteiner, however, cautioned that the 32.7% across-the-board cut is only one of several proposals intended to help supervisors develop a budget plan. Hirtensteiner said the board will ultimately decide what areas to cut and by how much.

“This is just to give the board more options to consider,” he said. “It’s a starting point. . . . We need to get the show on the road.”

Schillo said he is working on an alternative proposal in which the departments with the largest deficits would undergo the biggest cuts.

He said three primary targets would be health, welfare and court services. The county spends nearly $26 million of its revenues annually to subsidize these three agencies, according to Hirtensteiner’s report.

“The fact is that there’s going to be some deep cuts,” Schillo said. “Government is at the point where we can’t keep going the way we have been without change. It’s going to be painful. So we’ve got to make sure that the cuts are fair.”

Board Chairwoman Maggie Kildee said she is also opposed to across-the-board cuts. But she said she is not certain if health, welfare and courts should be the main targets.

“I’m not saying they should be exempt from cuts; I just don’t know if they should bear the brunt of these cuts,” she said. “That’s a hard question. I think the board has to try and be fair and retain some semblance of county services.”

Still, the board is limited in what areas it can cut since a majority of the panel has already agreed to exempt public safety services from future cuts. These include the sheriff’s, district attorney, public defender and fire departments.

Kildee said the county may have to look at consolidating more departments or cutting whole programs.

“I don’t know what the answer is going to be,” she said. “We have to look at each department on an individual basis.”

Both Kildee and Schillo agree with Hirtensteiner’s projected deficit of $38 million, even though Auditor-Controller Thomas O. Mahon has estimated the deficit at between $46 million and $49 million.

Unlike Mahon’s projection, the $38-million figure does not include merit raises, cost-of-living adjustments or potential state budget cuts, Schillo said.

“No one number is correct,” Schillo said. “The budget is a moving target. But I think if people want to talk about a range, $38 million is a good starting point.”

Schillo said he also agreed with Hirtensteiner’s proposal to establish a two-year budget reduction plan, which would soften the blow by allowing the board to cut $19 million in the new fiscal year instead of the entire $38 million.

“In the third year, we would be to the point where we would be back in the black, and lean and mean,” he said. “Painful as it may be, the end result is that it’s going to be better for everyone.”