Progress Reported in Trimming the Deficit

If all goes as projected, Ventura County officials by summer will have wiped out more than half of a $38-million budget shortfall identified last year, according to a midyear budget analysis.

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to review the analysis Tuesday and provide early direction for putting together the county’s spending plan for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

“Things are looking better than what we’ve been through in the past five or six years,” said Bert Bigler, the county’s budget director.

“Over the last several years there have been some very painful cuts. We never know what’s going to happen, but it appears that we’re headed in the right direction.”

Last year, Ventura County leaders embarked on a two-year plan to eliminate the $38-million budget deficit. According to the midyear budget projection, county staff members will have erased $20.1 million of that spending gap by June 30, the end of the 1995-96 fiscal year.

If that projection holds up, the county will face a projected $17.9-million deficit for fiscal 1996-97.

Based on that shortfall, supervisors will be asked Tuesday to order all departments--except for public safety--to prepare alternatives for cutting their budgets by 25% next year.

Supervisors are scheduled to review the budget report at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the County Government Center, 800 S. Victoria Ave.