County Backs Hiring Reviews for Cost Savings

Despite objections from the district attorney, Ventura County supervisors on Tuesday agreed to conduct a hiring review for all vacant county jobs to help offset a projected $15.6-million imbalance next fiscal year.

Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury complained that the review was actually a “veiled hiring freeze” that would increase the burden on his office, which is already struggling with an unusually high workload.

Bradbury attributed much of the additional work to five capital murder cases that his office is currently juggling, which require twice as many prosecutors and investigators as other cases. He said his office typically handles an average of one capital case a year.

“To impose a hiring freeze by any name would severely hamper our operations,” Bradbury said. “It would make it very difficult for our office to provide services.”

But the board went ahead and approved Chief Administrator Lin Koester’s recommendation that his office should oversee hiring for all vacant positions as well as all county purchasing to help keep a lid on costs until the end of the current fiscal year June 30.

“The biggest expense we have in the budget is personnel, so we need to maintain tight controls over hiring,” said board Chairman John Flynn. “And this is an attempt to do that. It’s just an oversight.”

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Supervisor Judy Mikels also stressed that the review does not mean no new hires, but rather it’s an effort to make managers more cost-conscious.

“This is not a hiring freeze,” she said. “We just need a way to justify hiring. And this will provide another set of eyes to do that.”

Under his plan, Koester’s staff will work with the county’s Human Resources Department to prepare guidelines that may require departments to explain the urgency of filling any vacancy or hiring extra help. Department managers will also be asked for suggestions on how to meet workload requirements without adding personnel.

In addition, Koester’s office will work with the county’s auditor-controller to conduct an extensive review of all departmental purchasing as another means to clamp down on expenses.

Despite Koester’s forecast of a $15.6-million budget imbalance, the auditor-controller is projecting that departments will have $12 million left over by the end of the fiscal year, after all expenses have been paid.

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County supervisors have traditionally tapped into such savings to help balance the county’s $860-million annual budget.

But Mikels and her colleagues warned department managers that they will be looking again this year to reduce outlays to close the county’s spending gap. Last year, the board cut $4.7 million out of departmental budgets.

“As we are all painfully aware of, we are a long way from ground zero,” Mikels said.