County Braces for the Worst

Layoffs and cuts in Ventura County government programs are inevitable as budget managers struggle to close a projected $17.6-million shortfall, County Executive Officer Johnny Johnston said Tuesday.

About 140 jobs will be permanently slashed, Johnston said. Most of the positions are already vacant or are filled by employees who can be transferred to other duties, the county manager said.

But at least 10 employees will probably be fired as the county deals with a budget imbalance that has been years in the making. Officials have not yet decided where the cuts will occur, Johnston said in a budget update for the Board of Supervisors.

Also unclear is the local effect of a staggering $23.6-billion deficit in the state’s budget. Gov. Gray Davis blamed fallout from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a falling stock market for the state’s declining revenue.

Local officials were only beginning to assess what effect the larger deficit could have on health care, crime prevention, university funding, road improvements, land conservation programs and individual taxpayers in Ventura County.

“Everybody’s concerned about what the effect is going to be as it trickles down,” said Melanie Markley, a Probation Agency manager.

The agency has some assurances Davis’ proposed cuts shouldn’t affect the $65-million juvenile justice center under construction in El Rio, Markley said.

But $2 million a year in state funding for juvenile crime prevention programs could be in jeopardy, Markley said. Meanwhile, proposed reductions in Medi-Cal rates could affect operations at Ventura County Medical Center, officials said.

“We depend so heavily on other jurisdictions for our money that when it happens to them, it happens to us,” Johnston told supervisors.

The grim financial picture prompted some supervisors to suggest it may be time to alter the way the county apportions its $1.1-billion budget.

Supervisor John Flynn said the board should revisit a policy of using $9 million in annual tobacco settlement payments to expand health-care services. Some of the money is also distributed to private hospitals to offset the cost of caring for uninsured patients.

Supervisor Kathy Long agreed that a review is necessary, saying the money might be better spent keeping the county’s public hospital and clinics open.

But any change might meet resistance from a citizens committee that makes tobacco settlement funding recommendations to the Board of Supervisors.

That committee in the past has made clear that it prefers the dollars to be spent on new programs, such as dental clinics for poor families, rather than backfill existing health-care budgets.

Other county policies, such as protected funding for public safety departments, could also be reviewed.

“This is going to be so severe that we’re going to have to revisit every policy,” Supervisor Steve Bennett said.

In his fiscal report, Johnston said Ventura County is facing a $17.6-million deficit, regardless of what happens in Sacramento.

The cost of operating the 7,200-employee government is outstripping revenue, creating an ongoing budget imbalance, he said. One reason is the county’s declining share of property taxes because of state decisions made in the early 1990s.

But local funding decisions also play a role, the county chief said. In 1994, 48% of the county’s general fund was spent on public safety departments; today it is 58%, he said.

Restrictions on how tobacco settlement dollars are spent also limit flexibility, Johnston said. Most alarming, while other counties were building up budget reserves during flush years, Ventura County’s emergency fund was declining.

In 2000, California counties had a median reserve of 14% but Ventura County’s was just 5.8%, Johnston said. Such low reserves make it more expensive to borrow money and can trigger a cash crunch, he warned.

Supervisors last year began rebuilding the reserve, but there is a long way to go before the county can restore its tarnished credit ratings, Johnston said.

“I hate to bring you the grim news,” he said. “But as long as you know the constraints, we can start planning for them.”

Johnston said his office would work to reduce the number of layoffs. It will be several weeks before the county knows precisely where the cuts will come, he said.

The leader of the county’s largest employee union said he is not overly concerned--yet.

“It all depends on where those 10 jobs are,” said Barry Hammitt, executive director of Service Employees International Union Local 998. “They’ve still got 45 to 90 days to worry about placing those people, so the sky doesn’t seem to be falling yet.”

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Staff writer Margaret Talev contributed to this report.