$12 Million in Cuts Needed to Balance Budget

The $6.5 million in cuts proposed for the Sheriff’s Department are only a portion of at least $12 million in reductions needed countywide to balance next year’s budget, officials said Friday.

Although the Sheriff’s Department and Probation Agency are among the hardest hit during this round of budget talks, managers in the county’s Parks Department, Human Services Agency and other departments also spent the week scrambling to meet tough limits set by Chief Administrator Harry Hufford to balance the county’s $1-billion budget.

Supervisors Frank Schillo and Kathy Long, who were briefed this week by Hufford on the looming deficit in the 2000-01 budget, said department heads may face even more difficult choices before a final spending document is approved. It most likely won’t be enough to simply eliminate positions held vacant during a hiring freeze, officials said.

“[Hufford] said there are some tough targets,” Long said. “And it was going to go to more than just the vacancies issue--he’s asked the agencies to put the services out there” for possible cuts.

Brooks said he will be forced to eliminate 77 full-time positions, staff members at the east valley jail and a countywide gang suppression unit to meet the savings recommended by Hufford.

The Probation Agency faces a 3.9% reduction in its $31-million budget, an estimated $1.2 million in cuts that will most likely come out of the department’s 400-position staff.

But, proportionally, the county’s Parks Department would take the biggest cut.

Hufford’s recommendations call for a $475,000 cut or 17% reduction in the department’s budget. If approved, the cuts would force an end to a $15,000 summer youth program that has served about 200 children at five sites across the county, said John Johnston, parks department director.

A new campground near the Rincon may have to be opened to offset costs, Johnston said. The campground would generate $100,000 a year in revenues, but would probably create a conflict with nearby Solimar Beach residents who don’t want the added noise and traffic it could bring, he said.

“We are going to try to meet with the local residents” to come up with solutions, Johnston said.

Another $15,000 will come from a fee paid by developers to study the feasibility of building a golf course at Toland Park near Santa Paula. And by transferring ownership of College Park to the city of Oxnard, the Parks Department saved about $50,000 in annual maintenance costs, Johnston said.

The county’s Human Services Agency, which administers welfare and other social service programs, faces a relatively small $668,000 cut from its $141-million budget. That is because most of the agency’s funds come from state and federal sources, agency Director Barbara Fitzgerald said.

“We have complied with their request,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ve been able to restructure and reorganize so it’s our goal not to impact the public. We’re doing our part.”

Hufford’s prediction that a budget deficit will appear unless $12 million in cuts are made is based on early estimates of revenues the county will receive in the coming year. County officials, for instance, are still unsure how much of an increase in state funding and property taxes it will get, and the recommendations do not include a $7.5-million infusion of tobacco settlement dollars that the county has already received.

Officials said they expected about $2 million in increased funding from the state and perhaps $500,000 in additional property tax revenues for the budget year beginning July 1.

Supervisor John Flynn called the budget deficit estimates “a moving target.”

“Much of this is based on assumptions,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll be as bad off as it looks right now. It kind of looks gloomy and dreary but I’ve seen that happen many, many times in my career. We’re playing a little bit of politics right now.”

Schillo said he would “guarantee” that Brooks would be first in line to receive any additional revenue that the county receives but that the sheriff must first be willing to negotiate on the recommended cuts.

“An arrangement could be made if we’re sitting down talking,” Schillo said. “It’s not just black and white.”