Fresno County faces $35 million in cuts
Hundreds of job losses are expected.
Posted at 10:14 PM on Friday, Apr. 29, 2011
Fresno County's budget gap has widened by $4 million, and administrators are now preparing for $35 million in spending cuts that likely will lead to hundreds of job losses.
Tax revenues have been lower than anticipated, and the county has little remaining time to find additional money to pay the bills in the 2011-12 budget year.
Barring any last-minute windfalls, the county will have to implement a plan drafted this month by County Administrative Officer John Navarrette that likely will mean fewer sheriff's deputies tending to crime, fewer agricultural inspectors looking after crop safety and fewer code enforcement officers safeguarding new homes and businesses.
"Our [money] train is not coming in," Navarrette said this week. "Everybody is just now making the adjustments."
County administrators had hoped local sales and property taxes would recover more quickly from the recession. They also had hoped state funding would increase.
Neither has, however. And like cities and counties across the state, Fresno County has continued to face higher operating costs, namely retirement expenses.
The result has left Fresno County leaders struggling to meet a June 30 deadline for balancing the upcoming year's $251 million discretionary fund -- a small part of the county's overall $1.7 billion budget, but significant because county leaders have direct say over how it's spent.
County leaders still hope to bridge part of their shortfall through pay and benefit concessions from employees -- labor negotiations are continuing -- but they acknowledge this will only save so much.
The bulk of the savings is expected to come from county departments most reliant on county funding, such as public safety agencies.
Under the budget plan, the District Attorney's Office will be cut 12%, the Probation Department 14% and the Sheriff's Office 15%, each about 1% more than they had prepared for in January.
Most had not expected the blow to worsen.
"If I'm cut this much, there will be layoffs," confirmed Sheriff Margaret Mims, who hopes the Board of Supervisors will find a way to avert the reduction.
Mims said she can't afford to lose any more employees. Nearly 25% of her work force has been cut since 2007, leaving fewer deputies on patrol and fewer correctional officers to guard the jail. More of the same can be expected, Mims has said, if her budget is trimmed further.
The county's agricultural commissioner expects her department's 15% cut will make it harder for her staff to inspect local crops for pests and disease.
"It's not a five-minute 'walk in and look at a couple of boxes and leave,' " said commissioner Carol Hafner.
"This takes a lot of time."
A 10% cut proposed for the Public Works and Planning Department would increase a backlog of code enforcement cases, such as complaints about trash in a neighbors' yard, public works officials said.
County administrators say they hope negotiations with union leaders will produce savings that will spare some public service cuts.
Last week, unions representing hundreds of sheriff's deputies and sergeants agreed to accept pay cuts of 6% for the next 21/2 years as well as scale back vacation time, reduce extra pay during evening shifts and do away with uniform allowances.
Navarrette, who works under the direction of the Board of Supervisors, says he's seeking a 10% pay cut from Service Employees International Union employees, which make up nearly two-thirds of the county work force.
But SEIU representatives have said 10% is too much since other employee groups are being asked to sacrifice less.
The current budget plan does not call for changes to supervisor salaries and proposes smaller concessions for most employee groups than for SEIU.
"If the board is really serious about the budget issue and wants us to be partners with them," they should take an equivalent wage cut, said Tom Abshere, director of SEIU Local 521.
Navarrette defended the wage proposals, saying this year's targets take into consideration past salary concessions. Supervisors, for example, took at least a 40-hour salary reduction last year, county records show.
"It's not just one-size-fits-all," Navarrette said.
The County Administrative Office is expected to update supervisors on the budget situation Tuesday at the board's regular meeting.
Budget decisions are expected to be finalized the week of June 13.
Said county Supervisor Henry Perea, "There's no question, this is very, very serious."
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