Federal Shutdown’s Impact Felt Across County

As the federal government shutdown stretches into its third week, Ventura County residents face a growing list of inconveniences that include lost income, closed parks and costly delays in getting passports and home loans.

If Washington pols do not break the budget stalemate soon, county officials fear it might also jeopardize funding for the Senior Nutrition Program, which provides hot meals to more than 1,000 senior citizens countywide.

“For many seniors, this is the only meal they eat,” said James Isom, director of the county’s Public Social Services Agency. “There may be some way that we can keep it going on a temporary basis, but I hope this [impasse] ends soon.”

The latest federal shutdown is smaller in scope than the one in November. All employees are now reporting to work at Ventura County’s two Navy bases, unlike in November when the Port Hueneme base had to temporarily dismiss 830 of its 1,230 civilian workers.

But the Minerals Management Service has lost about 100 regional employees, halting mandatory inspections of coastal oil platforms. And the lights are out at the local Fish & Wildlife Service office, meaning any builders needing clearances for construction projects near wildlife or river habitats will have to wait.

Although more of the county’s 10,500 federal employees are on the job than in November, that furlough lasted only five days. And with no balanced budget agreement in sight, hundreds of furloughed employees have not been paid, forcing many to dip into savings accounts and apply for unemployment compensation to make ends meet.

“With the money I have now, I could last through the end of the month,” said Derek Lohuis, a furloughed ranger at Channel Islands National Park who is engaged to be married. “But that would be driving into long-term savings that would be used for other things--namely, a wedding. But oh, well.”

The impasse is beginning to tie up some federal loans, irking mortgage agents and frustrating home buyers. Donna Roberts, a branch manager with Countrywide Home Loans in Ventura, said the budget stalemate in Washington has held up three of her government loans for veterans. The mortgages require approval from the Department of Veterans Affairs, but the workers who issue the paperwork have been furloughed.

“I’m hoping that the 3-year-olds in Washington get out of the sand box and do their job,” Roberts said. “It’s ridiculous.”

Coy Elmore, a publishing technician and former Air Force employee, worries he may lose the house he wants to buy in Oxnard if he cannot get the necessary approval for his government loan.

“You don’t want anything to get in the way,” said Elmore, 41. “I am ready to move in and I am tired of waiting.”

The shutdown also may put a crimp in travel plans. Although post offices still accept passport applications, the federal government has furloughed the workers who process them.

That worries Scott Wigton, who plunked down $2,000 for a Jan. 23 trip to Peru with his wife but has not yet received his passport.

“We have been planning for this trip since June,” said the 28-year-old Ventura resident, who applied for his passport Dec. 1. “[The shutdown] may mess up everything. I don’t think the government is going to pay for it if we have to change our tickets.”

Passports are being processed for those needing to travel because of a death in the family. The office of Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) managed to obtain a passport for a constituent whose sister died in the recent plane crash in Columbia, spokesman Jim Maiella said.

Although the budget impasse has forced hundreds off the job, many who have stayed are working harder--and without pay--to pick up the slack. Before the government shutdown, Mike Horan’s job as a dispatcher for Channel Islands National Park never called for feeding the horn shark at the park’s Ventura headquarters.

But considered one of only four essential employees, Horan stayed on the job when the budget stalemate prompted the furlough of nearly 71 park workers on Dec. 15. He now mops the floors, takes in the mail and also cares for smaller fish in the park’s tide pools on top of his dispatching duties.

“Sometimes it’s daunting, but you do what you have to do,” Horan said. “I am working without pay, but there is really nothing I can do about that but complain to my congressman, my President or to the senators.”

Congress members say they have fielded dozens of calls this week from county residents on the balanced budget agreement. Rep. Anthony Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) said more than two-thirds of his constituents who have called favored President Clinton’s balanced budget plan.

At Gallegly’s office, Maiella said, about 75% of the 100 callers this week expressed support for extending the shutdown.

“We have gotten many more calls from people saying hang tough and don’t settle for anything less than a balanced budget,” Maiella said. “That’s probably because this is a Republican office.”

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