County officials and union leaders have agreed to talk about the
effect that a budget plan approved by the Board of Supervisors
could have on employees who are being laid off.
County officials and union leaders have agreed to talk about the effect that a budget plan approved by the Board of Supervisors could have on employees who are being laid off.
The plan, which calls for adding $464,620 to the Health and Human Services Department’s budget, and the pending layoffs of five employees has leaders with Service Employees International Union Local 817 concerned.
County Administrative Officer Gil Solorio said the plan is needed to help the department make it through the remainder of the fiscal year. County officials also said the five positions being considered for layoffs will probably be given jobs in other departments in county government.
SEIU Executive Director John Vellardita expressed concern with the budget plan and suggested that the county hold off on implementing it until county officials have had a chance to confer.
“We think the county obviously has an issue that it needs to address,” Vellardita said. “Our concern is we still want to have an opportunity to work in partnership with the county to discuss the adverse impacts this might have.”
Citing the fiscal urgency of the situation, the Board of Supervisors decided to move ahead with the plan. But Solorio said he would meet with Vellardita to discuss his concerns.
“We may probably still need to do this, but talks like this help us to communicate better and to hear their concerns,” Solorio said.
He said keeping the line of communication open will be important within a few months when the effects of Governor Gray Davis’ proposed $10 billion budget cut are felt.
“We think the overture from Gil Solorio was good and we are willing to work with them on this,” Vellardita said.
He said by opening communications now, the union may be able to suggest things that would make future budget concerns easier to deal with and have less of an effect on employees.
Human Services’ budget problems stem from the state budget approved in October, not the $10 billion in cuts recently announced by the governor.
In September, the county came to realize that over a period of years the HSA overestimated how much money it was supposed to receive from state and federal government reimbursements.
More than $200,000 in anticipated reimbursements were never given to the county.
County officials said a number of the HSA’s programs are operated in conjunction with the state and federal governments, which are supposed to share the cost of delivering services. However, the state and the federal government often wait until after a county has paid to deliver services before deciding how much to reimburse. Occasionally, that reimbursement is less than what was expected.
Secondly, the HSA had to shoulder about $400,000 in unexpected costs for the state and federally mandated Foster Care program, sending its actual spending to approximately $1.6 million – more than the $1.2 million budgeted for the 2001-2002 fiscal year, county officials said.
Under state law, counties can not operate on a deficit, which means they have to balance out their spending from the previous fiscal year in order to successfully close out the books for one fiscal year before they can move forward.
Last year, the Board approved a measure for its accounting process that gave the county administrative officer the power to transfer unused money from one account to another to balance the books at the end of the fiscal year. However, the CAO can transfer only amounts totaling less than $25,000.
Because the amount needed for the HSA budget is more than the allowed limit, the Board must consider and approve such a large transfer of funds.
