Several county agencies will have to make do with less staff
this fiscal year as the Board of Supervisors outlined a lean $64.2
million 2003-04 budget on Monday.
”
The tough part is done,
”
Supervisor Bob Cruz said.
”
The whole Board held the line on spending.
”
Several county agencies will have to make do with less staff this fiscal year as the Board of Supervisors outlined a lean $64.2 million 2003-04 budget on Monday.
“The tough part is done,” Supervisor Bob Cruz said. “The whole Board held the line on spending.”
With the effects of the recently approved state budget still uncertain, the Board tentatively approved a balanced budget proposal that would expand its hiring freeze.
The proposed budget represents a $1.7 million decrease from last year’s $65.9 million budget.
The San Benito County Sheriff’s Department, the District Attorney’s Office and the Human Services Agency will all lose some personnel if the Board approves the proposed budget by the scheduled end of the hearings on Wednesday.
Several supervisors said they did not enjoy denying requests from department heads for needed personnel.
Most of the loss in personnel will not come from layoffs. The Board decided to not replace positions left open by employee attrition. The positions will technically remain on the books, but will not be funded.
The savings from the vacant positions will be put to use supplementing the county’s General Fund and paying for other services, sometimes within the same department.
“These were some very tough decisions we had to make,” Cruz said. “I wish I had a magic wand and could wave it and just give the department heads everything they want, but I can’t.”
Cruz believed department heads understood the Board’s fiscally conservative decisions.
“I think they realize that when times are good, we are good to them, but when times are tough, we just have to tighten our belts,” he said.
The District Attorney’s Office is slated to lose one of its investigator positions, but District Attorney John Sarsfield said his office has worked out an agreement with Sheriff Curtis Hill to share a detective from his department to help make up for the loss in the district attorney’s office.
“Obviously I’m disappointed, but I appreciate that the Board gave me an opportunity to explain in detail why I needed those extra positions,” Sarsfield said.
He said he appreciated the difficult position the Board was in with the state’s budget crunch.
“The state is in a fiscal crisis and it’s no fault of anybody up there (on the Board). The fault is up there in Sacramento,” Sarsfield said.
The sheriff’s department will lose a total of six full-time people, two from the patrol division and four correctional officers from the county jail.
The reduction came as no surprise to Hill who said he knew the county would have to lay out a very conservative budget.
“It’s because of their conservative fiscal policies that we are in such a good position,” Hill said. “I thought the county’s ability to put together a balanced budget is just what the doctor ordered.”
Hill had worked with County Administrative Officer Gil Solorio to try and prepare for the fiscal blow.
“I kind of saw this coming, so I’m not disappointed,” Hill said. “In a perfect world, this would have been a bad day, but the Board had positioned itself to be prepared for this scenario. Some other counties are in really bad shape.”
The Human Services Agency will lose 11 full-time people, several of whom were laid-off in June when the grant funding for their jobs expired.
The Board is scheduled to continue budget hearings today following its regularly scheduled meeting.
