Interim County Administrative Officer Ray Espinosa was wrong to pronounce that supervisors should consider ending furlough pay cuts and a step-increase freeze – not only because his reasoning for such financial optimism was flawed and based on one-time injections, but also because he just threw the unions a bone for negotiations and for no justifiable reason.
Espinosa told supervisors the recommended general fund budget is balanced with $1.6 million in one-time funding from the health and human services agency due to an overpayment from the general fund in a previous year and rollover funds from the 2012-13 year, along with higher estimates of revenue from the assessor’s and tax collector’s offices. The annual general fund budget is generally around $30 million. Espinosa at last week’s meeting also informed the board that officials were suggesting an end to furloughs in the 2013-14 budget and a revival to step increases for employees.
It was a curious statement that sounded more like union cheerleading than anything – from a position of leadership that is supposed to bargain on behalf of taxpayers – while it is important to keep in mind that any future spending or changes to compensation policies will depend on the details that come out of negotiations, not Espinosa’s mouth. By announcing it to the world, it could only curtail the county’s leverage in negotiations.
As for the finances, it appears as though the economy is slowly recovering and that the county’s budget situation may be doing the same. At the same time, though, the temporary fixes cited by Espinosa should not be a basis for such drastic structural changes as ending furloughs and step freezes. They are just that, temporary fixes, and won’t help at all in years two, three, four and so on when the county employees are continuing to receive pay hikes.
The interim CAO also failed to recognize the area of the budget hit hardest by cuts in recent years – the sheriff’s office – though fortunately supervisors were quick to acknowledge where public safety stands on the priority list by noting that laid-off deputy roles should be considered first if the county hires new employees.
Frankly, Espinosa just had no business making such a blanket statement without providing a more detailed analysis of the county’s long-term financial projections, and any major pronouncements affecting leverage in a bargaining room should stay in the bargaining room.
