Layoffs Unnecessary, Leaders Say

Ventura County can close a $5-million budget deficit and avoid worker layoffs by cutting a number of vacant positions that clog department budgets, supervisors said Wednesday.

Auditor Tom Mahon said he is compiling a list of 806 vacant positions to determine how many are budgeted for this year. He is recommending that the county Board of Supervisors consider closing the deficit with a combination of program cuts and elimination of some unfilled slots.

The average savings from each position is $50,000, giving supervisors a “good option” to make up a shortfall without laying off any of county government’s 7,500 employees, Mahon said. For example, by eliminating just 100 positions, the county would make up the $5-million deficit.

But finding positions that are available to cut--without losing state or federal funding that comes with it--can be tricky, said Bert Bigler, interim county administrator. Other jobs are mandated by state and federal programs and cannot be eliminated, Bigler said.

“On the surface, we can say this is a good way to get a lot of savings,” he said. “But it is not a simple exercise.”

Supervisor Frank Schillo said he has been asking for years that vacant positions be pared down. Department managers like to keep their budgets padded with extra positions so they can use the money for other purposes, such as hiring contract help, Schillo said.

But the practice gives a false picture of the county’s budgetary needs and should be curtailed, the supervisor said.

“That is certainly where I would start closing the [budget] gap,” he said. “I see no reason to have these positions that are unfilled year after year.”

*

Supervisor Kathy Long said she, too, would favor eliminating vacant slots in addition to other cuts. The board will begin prioritizing which programs should be reduced and how many unfilled positions should be cut when it meets Tuesday. That work will culminate in January at a budget workshop, Long said.

“We’ve got some work ahead of us, but we are well prepared to do it,” Long said. “This is not the dire straits.”

If the board decides to cut vacant positions, Mahon said, they must be chopped permanently to realize long-term savings.

“If the positions are available in the following year’s budget, you haven’t made any true reduction,” Mahon said.

Long said she has not sat down to consider where program cuts may occur. But Schillo said he thinks some fat can be trimmed in the parks department and in the Human Services Agency. The welfare bureaucracy has swelled while public-aid caseloads are at their lowest level in a decade, he said.

Supervisor John K. Flynn said he is certain that layoffs will not be necessary. He is not even sure that unfilled positions need to be eliminated, suggesting the county can make up the shortfall other ways.

Whatever the supervisors decide, they need to act quickly, Mahon warned. The county’s cash flow is so tight that making payroll for employees and paying bills have become a constant juggle, the auditor said.

*

Supervisors were preparing to make budget decisions when the county’s new chief administrative officer abruptly resigned. Long, who was in Monterey Wednesday attending a meeting of county officials from across the state, said David L. Baker’s departure and the scathing six-page analysis of Ventura County government he left behind were “the talk of the town.”

“It seemed like everyone I talked to had read that letter,” Long said.

Long said she expects to get a list of qualified retired executives who are willing to work as Ventura County’s administrative chief by Friday. Several leaders from other counties approached her with offers of assistance and tips for candidates, she said.