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On county layoffs and budgets and crystal balls
December 30th, 2008, 4:31 pm · 7 Comments · posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
We told you this morning about the battle brewing over layoffs at the County of Orange, where hundreds of layoffs will begin next week in an effort to close an $86 million hole in the county budget.
Some interesting thoughts on the process from Bill R. Stelter, who has observed the county budget process as a special district employee for 22 years:
The one thing that is really not addressed in any article is the fact that the county operates on a {Presumed Budget}. In other words the county is presuming that it will get a specific amount of revenue from various sources throughout the year.
What happens is that in November and December (Mid Budget Year} when certain revenues do not come in to replace those that were removed from the county reserve funds the county must reestablish or correct its budget to reflect the actual income it has received during that time period so that it can operate within budget until March when the next set of property tax payments strart arriving.
This year’s budget was based on the recent increase in the property taxes and the money expected from the state budget which has not been approved as of this time. It appears that the defult rate on property taxes has been much higher than previous years and the revenue from the state and federal Governments has not arrived so the county must pull more money from reserves or cut its budget in some way to be able to operate without going bankrupt again.
The easy way of course is always to cut staffing at various departments or to force employees to retire early. However in most cases this does not work because the county must then rehire the employees and restore their service time and benefits as soon as the budget crisis is over and they have their original budget amounts.
What is also interesting is that every year each department head or Manager is asked to prepare and submit his or her departments annual budget request. These requests are sometimes padded to where they get their actually needed operating budget. If each agency submitted a bare bones budget and a plan to operate their departments within that budget this annual problem would not occur.
Some good examples would be the Sheriff’s Department. Can the Jails be safely operated by lower paid correctional officers there by saving several Million Dollars a year in salary and benefits. Was the public better served financially when the Marshal’s Department was separate from the Sheriffs’ Dept? Can the harbors be better patrolled by the various local police like they are in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco? Can the Coroner’s office be separated from the Sheriff’s Department and operated economically as a seperate agency since it generates revenues from the fees it charges families and funeral directors for services.
This would be something the Grand Jury could look into next year and make recommendations on changes that should be made. Look at centralizing County Departments into a central Government center similar to what the County Of San Diego Did to minimize their facility costs.
Can you combine the Public Administrator and Public Guardians office with the District Attorneys Office to save money on salaries? Can private security companies patrol the airport parking lots and outside approaches instead of Sheriffs deputies? Is there a private contractor that can provide the same services as the Social services clerks and other staff provide?
Can the probation duty be taken over by the State Parole agency that supervises prison parolees? Start looking at shifting some responsibilities over to the state and Federal Governments in order to reduce the operating budget.
In any case good luck to Mr. Berardino and Mr. Burton.
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I really like what was said, the problem is that we need to stop blameshifting and start looking for solutions. There many ways that we can cut corners and be real about our finding. Many Manager;s feel that ,if the budget is slim down ,they will not be able to recall the money that they have lost for the next year budget. I would give up my raise ,for a couple of years,if it meant to keep my job. I know that in the recent years, there have been more mangers hire in different department,that were not there in the past. The money is nice for that person who received that position, but they bring in their buddies and put them in position that are higher than the real person who is doing the work. That causes more money for that department and that raises cost to keep that department open. i have said enought, your ideas need to brought to the light . thank you for allowing me to vent
There is a lot to like in Mr. Stelter’s post. But one caveat - privatizing government services must be approached free from ideological biases. There may be some County services that could be better and more economically by the private sector. At the same time, experience has shown that privatization is far from a panacea - in most instances it leads to higher costs within a short period of time and fosters favoritism, graft and corruption that the public will no longer abide. That aside, I completely support his call for grand jury involvement, and perhaps as Berardino has suggested it’s time for a few business stalwarts to step in and provide some guidance to a Board of Supervisors sadly in need. Who could be the next Bill Popejoy?
Proposition J, voters must approve it. We should just get rid of the BoS and have votes on every item by the citizens of the county every week to decide what needs to be done. They can’t do any worse than this board.
If we were to privatize government services, who is going to make sure Moorlach doesn’t give contracts to all of his friends in the lincoln club? With Moorlach in charge, who is to say privitization will turn out any better than his IT Group?
How about we just cut that fat, and do things right the first time? We don’t need managers upon managers upon managers in every department. The workers our Sups are trying to cut are the ones who keep the County standing. Cutting out your feet, only makes you fall.
Privatization is OFTEN a terrible idea. Sometimes it isn’t perceived as such until it is too late. You need strong safeguards in advance!
The problem with Orange County is that it is “TOP HEAVY” For example, I have a supervisor, who has a supervisor, who has a supervisor, who has a program manager, who has who has a division manager, who has an operations manager who has the head of the particular agency. All of these people make between $100,000 and $200,000 a year. Therefore, I have a total of 7 managerial levels all of which make between $100,000 and $200,000 a year resulting in a total of $700,000 – $1,400,000 per year. If all of these people receive a 5% pay increase which has already been approved, then the additional cost to tax payers is anywhere between $35,000 to $70,000 this year and more next year. This may not seem very much; however, you need to understand that I am only one person that works for one particular program of hundreds of programs.
I WOULD LIKE TO SEE A COST ANALYSIS OF ORANGE COUNTY CEO AND STAFF PLUS BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND ADMINISTRATION OF ALL THE AGENCIES. I BET THE COST TO ORANGE COUNTY TAX PAYERS WOULD BE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
So the CEO and BOARD OF SUPERVISORS’ solution is to lay off the people who provide service to the people of Orange County and are paid the lowest!
The concern is that this is creating a 2 class system, which is present across our nation. If we are not careful, the middle class will drop and this super power country will end up a 3rd world country!
Privatization is OFTEN a terrible idea. If the contracts are given to friends of the Board of Supervisors or the County CEO; thus creating a potential for more corruption. Orange County is non-profit meaning we just make enough to cover expenses. Private industry is out to make as much money as they can; thus, costing the tax payers inordinate amount of money. Contractors are always trying to cut corners impeding their ability to be effective.
Tom Mauk’s characterization of the layoffs as an action towards budget reductions demonstrates the determined focus of the County’s CEO, and Board of Supervisors to solve the County’s budget problems on the backs of its workers.