Budget Cuts Are Urged to Close County Gap

Unveiling a preliminary $870.3 million spending plan, Ventura County Chief Administrative Officer Lin Koester said Monday he will urge the Board of Supervisors to slash departmental budgets--rather than use reserves--to wipe out a projected $17.8 million budget shortfall for the new fiscal year.

“These are significant, painful cuts that have to be made,” Koester said. “These are programs that are very necessary, very well-intentioned and touch the lives of many county residents, and many of these cuts will not be easy cuts to make.”

Koester and Chief Deputy Administrator Bert Bigler said the board could eliminate the budget shortfall by imposing a 9.2% across-the-board cut to most county departments. Public safety and court agencies are exempt from budget cuts under a local ordinance approved by voters.

But the board will have the opportunity to pick from a yet-to-be-released list of 70 budget-saving strategies that Koester said would include “use it or lose it” vacation time for new employees and the merging of certain departments.

Koester, acting under the recommendation of the auditor-controller, said the $18 million budget reserve built into the budget represents 3% of the total spending plan and is as low as the county should go to remain financially responsible.

Last year, supervisors covered a roughly $20 million gap between spending and income by approving just $4.7 million in actual cuts from departmental budgets. The bulk of the gap instead was closed by dipping into reserves, excess earnings and other savings, Koester said.

But Supervisor Frank Schillo said the board has managed to put off tough budget-making decisions for years.

“We have to bite the bullet that keeps eluding us,” he said Monday. “I’m going to be looking at it in terms of a balanced budget, period.”

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Schillo is calling for a 10% across-the-board cut in net costs from all departments--including the supervisors’ individual budgets.

Supervisor John Flynn said he favors adopting a combination of cost-cutting strategies over across-the-board cuts. But he agrees the hole in the budget must not be carried over for another year.

“I think we’ve pretty much made a pledge that we’re going to have to bring that $17 million down to zero,” he said.

Meanwhile, Koester and Bigler have built into the budget some $3.2 million they project the county will receive when lawmakers pass a state budget this summer.

Armed with about $2 billion in added state revenue due to a booming state economy and swelling sales tax proceeds, Gov. Pete Wilson’s spending plan has called for $225 million in additional aid to cities, counties and special districts.

Under the package, Ventura County stands to receive $1.2 million through a $75 million aid package for hospitals that serve a large number of low-income and Medi-Cal patients. Still to be clarified for the county is how much it would receive under Wilson’s call to return $100 million in property tax money shifted from local governments to schools over the past five years.

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Not expecting the state budget to be passed until at least July or August, Ventura County officials estimate they would receive $1.5 million in added property tax revenue, money that under Wilson’s plan would be “discretionary,” or not earmarked for any specific purpose.

Couple the confusion over local government aid with a large number of freshmen legislators and complex state welfare reform legislation, county legislative analyst Ginny Camarillo said, and it could be fall before the budget picture comes into focus.

“I’d say it’s going to be getting rather warm up there,” she said.

Meanwhile, county supervisors will begin their budget study sessions June 11, with final hearings scheduled for the last week of June. The new fiscal year begins July 1.