Board Hears Pleas to Save Jobs

As budget negotiations enter a final month, civilian jail employees, veterans groups and mental health workers Tuesday pleaded with the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to spare services and jobs targeted for reduction.

Board members voiced sympathy as speaker after speaker told of lives that would be in upheaval should the cuts come to pass. Roughly 300 workers -- about half the number originally estimated -- would lose their jobs under the latest budget projections.

But even if the county is able to save some programs, board Chairman Steve Bennett cautioned speakers, there are sure to be painful reductions in others.

“This budget will be a choice between blood and oxygen,” he said.

The entreaties underscored the difficult choices ahead as supervisors decide which county services will be maintained and which will be cut -- or shut down -- to close a $36-million budget shortfall.

In a revised estimate, County Executive Officer Johnny Johnston told supervisors after Tuesday’s public hearing that the actual number of layoffs would be about half of the 600 he had initially projected. State funding cuts will not be as severe as first forecast, he said, saving hundreds of jobs that had been slated for elimination. But it appears that no more good news is on the horizon, Johnston said.

One area of ongoing debate is whether it makes economic sense to transfer 40 sheriff’s deputies from patrol into the county’s jails, while laying off 40 civilian employees who help run those facilities.

Lou Preiczer, president of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Correctional Officers Assn., told supervisors that laying off sheriff’s service technicians was an inefficient use of taxpayer dollars, because the civilian employees cost less than sworn deputies.

“With the removal of deputy law enforcement officers from our community we are less safe and will not receive the same level of service we pay for,” Preiczer said.

While stopping short of challenging the proposal by Sheriff Bob Brooks, several supervisors said they wanted more information on how Brooks concluded that the rotation makes fiscal sense. “I’m not sure there’s a true cost savings there,” Supervisor Judy Mikels said.

Bennett, meanwhile, asked the sheriff to reexamine whether he could save some deputy patrols by trimming departmental brass. Any lost patrols would come in the county’s unincorporated areas, because cities that contract with the Sheriff’s Department cannot have their services reduced.

Brooks was not at the meeting. But reached later, the sheriff said he would make a formal presentation to the board in coming weeks to explain his budget-cutting plan.

Brooks challenged Preiczer’s assertion that the county would save money by keeping civilian employees in the jails. Officers pulling jail duty typically are new recruits on the lower end of the pay scale, Brooks said.

By contrast, many of the sheriff’s service technicians have been on the job longer and earn nearly as much, or more, than the deputies, he said.

“This allows us to retain employees that are much harder to replace and gives us an additional resource of sworn officers we can pull out in an emergency,” the sheriff said.

As for management cuts, Brooks said he has cut two captains’ positions for the 2004-05 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

His 45-member command team, mostly captains, is as lean as it can get, he said.

“It’s just not effective to have one manager supervise two programs. Most people are stretched about as far as we can stretch them,” Brooks said. Several other speakers protested a proposed 75% cut in county veterans services. The county office helps veterans file claims for benefits, get health insurance coverage and other assistance.

R.T. Lee Jr., a World War II veteran, was among half a dozen veterans who showed up to protest the office’s potential closure. Over the years, the office has been helpful to scores of local veterans, said Lee, an American Legion member.

“It’s just inconceivable to me that you would want to take away a service like that from the vets,” he said.

A handful of county mental health workers protested a Health Care Agency proposal to privatize services provided by a crisis-counseling team.

The 12-member team has been in place for more than a decade and has assisted in numerous suicide attempts and police confrontations, said Susan Luckey, a crisis team worker.

Behavioral Health Director Linda Shulman said the county would save $830,000 annually by contracting out the services. Employees on the team would be reassigned within the department, she said.

But affected workers told supervisors that they had built good relationships with police agencies and the mentally ill over the years. That should not be thrown away needlessly, Luckey said.

“You must weigh the costs of keeping seasoned and dedicated staff against the possible lower cost of privatization,” she said.

Supervisors are expected to hold budget hearings next month. After that, they will make final adjustments to the spending plan before voting on it.