Budget Balancing By The Numbers

At the Tuesday, March 25, Board of Supervisors meeting, Board Chair John Haschak casually mentioned that the County’s General Fund budget deficit might be as high as $28 million, adding, “but maybe that’s, um, closer to $15 million after the, kinda, the wish-list stuff is taken out.”

Then last Tuesday, CEO Darcie Antle and her office staff said the deficit was about $17 million. But, if one-time funds are applied, the gap might be reduced to around $9 million. A grain of salt must be applied to these estimates because, as Employees’ Union rep Patrick Hickey has noted, the CEO’s budget estimate track record is not particularly credible. CEO Antle said the gap was the difference between what the General Fund departments have asked for and the available revenue. Of course, in tight budget times like these they simply can’t have all that they have requested:

Selected other departments:

The General Fund budget request is now around $100 million. So that means that the departments would have to cut about 17% of their budgets to balance the budget without using one-time funds. If one-time funds are used the departmental budgets would have to be cut by around 9%.

The Supervisors said they didn’t like the idea of using one-time funds, but would consider it on a case-by-case basis.

The basic first step to balance the County’s General Fund budget would be require all the departments to reduce their budgets by 17%, and see what they come up with. The larger departments might be able to take a percentage cut in staffing, difficult as it might be. The smaller departments which cannot absorb actual staff cuts might have to reduce their hours of operation.

There are a few departments which seem to cost a lot more than they should, so they should be asked to take larger cuts than the nominal 17% of 9%. Those would appear to be Juvenile Hall (which we think should be shut down, since there are only one or two dozen delinquents in the Hall most of the time. And Human Resources which apparently costs a ridiculous $2.2 million. The Supervisors, Executive Office and Clerk of the Board should begin by cutting their own budgets 17%.

When the departments submit their proposed cuts they can make their case for exemptions or mandates.

Last Tuesday, it also came to light that the Pension Obligation Bond will be paid off soon and that will mean the County won’t have to continue contributing about $4 million a year, starting next year.

Board Chair John Haschak mentioned several cost cutting ideas, most of which are small dollar amounts, but his suggestion that the County renegotiate the health care contributions to align them with the target amounts sounds promising, although it would represent a de facto pay cut if employees have to contribute more. Haschak also suggested that all elected officials take a pay cut to the levels prior to last year’s big raises. When Haschak turned his suggestions into a motion, however, like most of his proposals, it died for lack of a second from any of his colleagues.

The point is that there are practical steps that could be taken now to face the budget deficit head on, assuming the CEO’s estimates are about right.

Instead, what we saw on Tuesday was the usual muddle with the staff asking the Board for more “direction,” and the Board expecting the staff to come up with “scenarios.”

As Union rep Patrick Hickey reminded the Board they also have to make sure they’re doing everything they can to collect all taxes due.

We said a couple of weeks ago based on the March 26 presentation that the CEO and her staff don’t have any idea how to close a General Fund budget gap of the magnitude of $9 million or $17 million or $28 million or whatever it is. After last Tuesday, it’s clear that they still don’t.

PS. All of this is before any accounting is made for the likely multi-million dollar pay off that the County will face when they lose the Chamise Cubbison civil suit, either by settlement or at trial. If it was up to us, we’d assign that cost to the District Attorney’s budget on top of whatever reduction percentage is imposed on the departments.