Riverside County Considers Chopping 300 Jobs And Cutting Services

Reducing Riverside County’s budget deficit will require cutting more than 300 jobs and lowering service levels in the county, including closing two fire stations, according to the Executive Office.

Ahead of Tuesday’s final budget impact hearing, county officials released the tentative budget outlook for fiscal year 2010-11, showing that 10 percent cuts in spending would net some $72 million in savings and lower next year’s deficit to $59 million.

The deficit in the current fiscal year is projected to hit $71 million.

The county is expected to take in some $612 million to cover $731 million in outlays next year, translating to a $119 million deficit without the proposed cuts, according to the Executive Office.

During recent Board of Supervisors’ hearings, department heads estimated how much fiscal austerity they could bear without losing functionality. The Executive Office summarized the findings in a 72-page report, which the board is expected to consider during an afternoon meeting Tuesday.

The report indicates 337 full-time positions may need to be cut, or remain unfilled, for departments to meet their budget targets.

Public safety agencies will be expected to share the pain, according to the Executive Office.

Some 70 jobs are at risk in the Sheriff’s Department, which is expected to take a 5 percent cut in general fund revenue, reducing its budget from $536 million to $525 million.

Sheriff Stan Sniff told the board last month a proposed 10 percent cut to his budget would result in closing a coroner’s office, shuttering jail facilities and substantially scaling down patrols in the county’s unincorporated communities.

The Executive Office indicated that even with the more modest budget decrease, patrol operations may still be affected.

The Fire Department is looking at a 6 percent cut in general fund support. The $2.1 million loss raises the prospect of closing two fire stations, though the report was not clear where.

Some 16 full-time jobs are expected to be eliminated. But according to the Executive Office, the 10 percent cut originally proposed would have meant slashing more than 60 positions and shuttering eight firehouses.

The District Attorney’s Office is facing a 3 percent cut, or a loss of around $2 million, according to figures.

The impact to the agency’s operations remained unclear because, according to the Executive Office, District Attorney Rod Pacheco has yet to submit a budget proposal for the next fiscal year.

Pacheco told the board last month that a 3 percent cut would not “materially affect” his department.

Public safety agencies have the added uncertainty of not knowing how much Proposition 172 revenue on which they can depend in the months ahead. The Sheriff’s Department relies on the half-cent tax on consumer purchases — which goes directly to support police and fire — to fund 14 percent of its operations.

The report indicated several departments are facing steep cuts that will impact service delivery.

The Community Health Agency’s children’s services administration is expected to see a 20 percent reduction in general fund support. The $4.5 million loss will mean curtailing hours at four clinics, and some 65 jobs may be on the line, according to the Executive Office.

Riverside County Public Defender Gary Windom is fighting a proposed 5 percent cut to his office’s budget. The $1.7 million reduction could lead to the loss of two-dozen jobs, including paralegals, who assist attorneys with case preparation.

The Public Defender’s Office has half the personnel employed at the District Attorney’s Office and often declares “overload” when cases pile up, at which point indigent clients are appointed private attorneys on the county’s dime.

Windom is asking for a 3 percent cut instead, preserving about $700,000 in his budget request for fiscal year 2010-11.

The Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office is among the few agencies shouldering a 25 percent cut in general fund support.

Thanks to Treasurer Don Kent’s efforts to “aggressively reduce his budget,” the office is positioned to bear a half-million-dollar loss and return to the size it was “ten years ago, at a time when the county is processing more accounting activities than ever before,” the Executive Office said.