County Warns of Further Budget Cuts

Hoping for the best and planning for the worst, Ventura County supervisors are warning health and law enforcement officials that their budgets may be pared further if state cuts are as severe as expected.

Supervisors are considering dipping into tobacco settlement and public safety funds to make up for a projected $26-million loss of state revenue. Both proposals are controversial.

Sheriff Bob Brooks has already vowed to fight any attempt to cut his $162-million budget.

And a citizens committee that makes recommendations on tobacco settlement spending has made clear that it doesn’t want that money to be used to close a revenue gap.

Although everyone is taking a wait-and-see approach for now, the budget skirmishes may grow more heated after the state approves its fiscal plan. “We’re very unsure what the state is going to do,” Supervisor Kathy Long said. “If there has ever been a budget crisis, we are in it.”

Supervisors will begin their own budget hearings at 1 p.m. today at the Hall of Administration in Ventura. Public comment will begin at 6 p.m. in the board’s chambers.

County Executive Officer Johnny Johnston is proposing a $1.2-billion 2002-03 budget that calls for $17.6 million in reductions. That figure does not include state losses that could push the final deficit to nearly $44 million.

Johnston has warned of the coming shortfall for months and department managers have eliminated 140 vacant positions to help close that gap.

But county officials fear that even deeper reductions may be on the way as the state faces its own financial crisis.

Gov. Gray Davis said a weakened economy and lower tax receipts have left the state with a $24-billion deficit. In May, he proposed a combination of tax increases, program reductions and debt refinancing.

About $1.2 billion would come in cuts to county-operated programs. Ventura County’s loss would total about $26 million, most of it in reductions to health and social service programs.

If that worst-case scenario comes to pass, supervisors may turn to tobacco settlement and public safety dollars to make up the difference. Johnston is recommending supervisors hold off allocating the tobacco money until the exact state funding is known.

Several supervisors said they support Johnston’s recommendation and that they would not object to using a portion of the $10.3 million to close a deficit.

“First and foremost we have to maintain our health care safety net,” Supervisor Judy Mikels said. “If we have to stitch it back together with these tobacco funds, for this year only, that’s what we should do.”

David Maron, chairman of the Tobacco Settlement Advisory Committee, said the panel realizes supervisors may be forced to dip into the money. “It would be naive not to think that the county will look at those tobacco funds,” he said. “But the [$8 million] allocated last year is already out in the community delivering an incredible amount of good value. That fulfills the promise of the board to help every resident of the county. And that should not be overlooked.”

The biggest fight, however, may come over one supervisor’s proposal to notify public safety managers that their budgets may be tightened further.

Supervisor Steve Bennett said four agencies--the sheriff, district attorney, public defender and probation--received $4.4 million more from county general funds than they were entitled to this year under a local ordinance that protects their funding. Bennett said supervisors should consider reallocating that money if the state cuts prove onerous. Two other supervisors, Long and John Flynn, said they support’s Bennett’s idea.

The sheriff said he won’t sit idly by if his budget is threatened. Brooks said he has already trimmed $2 million from the coming year’s spending plan, and Bennett’s proposal would mean an additional $1.5-million reduction.

“We’ve already eliminated 14 patrol and four court positions because we didn’t have money to pay for them,” Brooks said. “So any attempt to go back and recoup that would just mean a devastating decrease in our services.”