Final County Budget Hearing Underway Today; Sheriff And DA Expected To Discuss Layoffs

What to do about funding gaps in public safety agencies' budgets will be the main topic of a Riverside County Board of Supervisors' hearing today.

It's the final budget impact hearing before the board finalizes details of its 2011-12 fiscal year spending plan.

A number of department heads are expected to discuss how proposed cuts will be handled, with Sheriff Stan Sniff and District Attorney Paul Zellerbach addressing how many layoffs may be necessary to keep their departments in the black.

The county Executive Office is proposing a 5 percent cut in general fund support for the Sheriff's Department and a 6 percent cut for the D.A.'s office. ( to read Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster's comments regarding cuts to the Sheriff's Department.)

Other county agencies are facing cuts as high as 25 percent. The average is 19 percent.

Sniff has warned that the $224.7 million spending threshold set by the Executive Office will leave him with no alternative but to slash payrolls. The expenditure limit is roughly $11.4 million below the current fiscal year, but the sheriff has said union-negotiated salary increases for deputies, higher operating costs connected with the jails and declining Proposition 172 public safety sales tax revenue will result in a funding gap of $40 million or more.

In the last two weeks, that figure has dropped to $17 million based on discussions between sheriff's officials and Executive Office administrators that identified budgetary relief using sub-funds and other methods. But the prospect of layoffs remains high.

According to Sniff, anywhere from 100 to 500 patrol and correctional deputies, along with support staff, could be handed pink slips in the first quarter of the next fiscal year.

Sniff has also indicated that several sheriff's stations may have to be consolidated, jail pods deactivated and the coroner's Coachella Valley office shuttered to stay within budget.

The district attorney has blamed his current-year cost overruns -- which will have to be carried over -- on his predecessor, whom Zellerbach said hired staff without the funds to pay for it.

The $58.6 million in appropriations proposed for the agency in the next fiscal year is about $4 million lower than the current one. According to Zellerbach, around three-dozen positions may have to be chopped to erase next year's shortfall.

All the public safety agencies' budgets include revenues from other sources, including state funds, locally assessed fees and federal grants. The board only controls general fund disbursals.

Earlier this year, county fire Chief John Hawkins told the board his department would face a $10 million deficit in 2011-12, making it necessary to close or reduce staffing at nine stations and cut 70 positions.

With all of the supervisors expressing a strong aversion to mothballing fire facilities, the board upped its general fund commitment to the department by $2.4 million in April. That was on top of $1.6 million in savings from pension benefits reductions to which the firefighters' union conceded.

The county fire shortfall stands at $5.9 million, according to Deputy fire Chief Ignacio Otero.

He said any personnel cuts will be ``minimal,'' but there are plans to close fire stations in El Cariso, Oasis and Poppet Flats.

According to the Executive Office, the aggregate 2011-12 county budget will be around $4.78 billion, compared to $4.73 billion in the current year.

Discretionary revenue -- more than half of which comes from property tax receipts -- is expected to slip about $10 million year-over-year to $582 million.

Budget documents indicated $32 million in reserves would be tapped to meet some funding needs, shrinking the reserve pool to $148.2 million.

The county's reserves have been sliced in half over the last three years to cover shortfalls triggered by the downward spiraling economy. The Inland Empire ranks among the top 10 regions nationally in foreclosure activity.

The board implemented a gradual deficit-reduction strategy in 2008. In the ensuing years, the county's workforce declined from nearly 20,000 to just over 17,500 -- the result of early retirements, attrition and terminations.

Recent economic forecasts predicted either limp or no revenue growth regionally over the next two years.

County administrators remain concerned about the consequences of the state's budget fixes, which may not be known for another two or three months.

The fiscal blueprint pieced together Monday will remain a working product through September, when the budget will be formally adopted, according to the Executive Office. --City News Service