After months of preparation, planning, and penny pinching (nice alliteration, eh?), the Board considers adopting a draft FY 2010/11 budget this Tuesday. What we will act on in a matter of hours has taken staff months to put together. But even as adopted it’s a long way from a done deal. It’s a work in progress. It will be one, two, three, or more months before the dysfunctional state legislature and the Governor give us a budget. Then we’ll cut some more. Oh, joy.
Over the last four years, in order to live within our means, the Board has adhered to critically important key principles: 1) don’t spend more than we take in; 2) maintain reasonable reserves and contingencies; and 3) minimize and promptly repay debt. These actions have enabled us to look beyond the immediate future to the long term. It’s a good thing.
Among precautionary measures taken were the closure of Tuolumne General Hospital, the establishment of the Tuolume County Economic Development Authority with the City of Sonora, projecting multi-year budgets, and being proactive to identify and eliminate unnecessary costs.
These have been both necessary and helpful, although in and of themselves they will not be enough to close a yawning gap between revenues and spending.
Beginning in March, the Board heard a number of presentations from Chief Administrative Officer, Craig Pedro. Here’s what we were told and how we responded:
- Mar. 16: FY 2010/11 multi-year budget projections - Craig forecasted the economy wouldn’t see a notable and sustained change for 2-3 years, more cuts and cost shifts would be made by the state, local revenues won’t rebound for 2-3 more years, and all the County’s major operating funds would experience operational deficits if the Board did not authorize immediate corrective action;
- Apr. 6: FY 2010/11 budget strategies – he recommended and the Board adopted nine specific actions to be taken (see below) to prepare the upcoming draft budget;
- Apr. 27 – May 11: Craig made reorganization proposals – six of them – which ranged from moving Behavioral Health into the Human Services Agency to moving Recreation and Libraries under the CAO’s office (not a popular option with supporters of either agency). This will result in the elimination of 10 full time employee positions;
- May 11: 2010 Early Retirement Program – his plan would eventually allow 14 employees to retire and should save the County $1.3 million over the next five years; and
- Jun. 1: the Board directed him to close gaps and balance each of the County’s major funds. We selected priorties for balancing the budget.
The following nine strategies were adopted to develop the budget:
- Implement a selective hiring and expenditure freeze in order to build fund balances to be carried over to next fiscal year;
- Economize where possible (all non-essential funding requests were limited by department heads);
- Reduce staffing where work volume indicated a reduced workload (Human Resources, the Community Development Department, Public Works, and Environmental Health);
- Stop providing services that can be provided by the private sector (previous years have seen more aggressive action on this front, although the Tuolumne County Film Commission and some County services are being spun off to be provided by Avalon Healthcare);
- Evaluate the elimination of some existing services that are unfunded state mandates (not much cost savings can be realized here);
- Implement streamlining and cutting costs via reorganization of internal departments;
- Negotiate cost savings via bargaining with the County labor unions (pension reform, benefit concessions, furloughs, etc.);
- Offer an early retirement program (40 people came forward); and
- As a last resort, implement staff reductions and reductions in services via extending the payoff of some debt, utlize $1 million in cash reserves to preserve jobs and services, and prioritize public safety and roads services, while implementing common sense measures in other departments.
In Part II, we’ll summarize the results of the impending draft budget. Guaranteed you’re not going to like it much.
Over the next few months the budget may get better… but more likely, it will get worse. Far worse.
Until the state approves their budget, ours is just a work in progress.
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