The Budget and Public Safety

It is budget time in Ventura County. What does that mean?

“Voter alert! Here comes the Board of Supervisors, again targeting Proposition 172, the public safety funds, for cuts.”

Whenever there is a cash flow problem, the Board of Supervisors seems to forget that the voters exercised their rights and passed a half-cent tax for the district attorney’s office, Sheriff’s Department, Probation Department and the public defender’s office. The people felt that public safety was the No. 1 priority and voted to tax themselves for public safety.

The Board of Supervisors gave us its word that the money would go where the public had voted to put it. Well, here we are again watching the board try to make the public’s will and vote a farce. Why?

Ventura County is growing. We know there is crime. Ventura County is building a new juvenile justice complex. Are not the Proposition 172 funds needed where the public voted them, now more than ever?

Ventura County has excellent people in Dist. Atty. Michael Bradbury and Sheriff Bob Brooks. These men and their personnel are doing a superb job of keeping Ventura County a safe place to live. Both of these fine elected public servants have made a commitment to the voters of Ventura County and stand by their commitment. They may need to negotiate their department budgets, but they are not willing to compromise the public safety in the process.

CATHY KOCH

Thousand Oaks