Oasis Fire Station Faces Deactivation As County Closes Budget Gap
A desert fire station will have to be deactivated and around two dozen positions may have to be slashed to help the Riverside County Fire Department close a $10 million budget gap going into the next fiscal year, Chief John Hawkins told the Board of Supervisors today.
During its first budget impact hearing to determine how county agencies will manage spending cuts in 2012-13, the board received a detailed report from Hawkins on tentative measures to pare down the fire department’s expenses. The chief listed a series of steps that will chop the deficit by $3.7 million, still leaving $6.5 million in red ink.
“We will do everything we can to close the budget gap in the current fiscal year and future years,” Hawkins said.
The department started the 2011-12 fiscal year with a $4 million deficit.
According to the chief, to bring down costs, fire Station 42 in Oasis will have to be shuttered. The facility has already been condemned because of asbestos, but crews have remained in temporary quarters nearby. Hawkins said under his tentative plan, remaining personnel would be shifted to the station in Mecca.
According to the chief, the department’s west Jurupa Valley station would be partially deactivated, with an engine taken out of service, leaving a two-medic squad in place.
Eighteen limited-term contract, or “relief,” firefighters could be cut from the payroll, according to the chief. He said two battalion chief positions, including the head of the public information bureau, would be downsized, along with two fire captains and two employees in the county Office of Emergency Services.
Supervisor Bob Buster praised the chief for “not just firing people wholesale” but instead putting the “entire organization” under the microscope to identify critical functions that should be left untouched.
“That’s the kind of approach you need across the county,” the supervisor said.
Under the county’s cost-cutting strategy, public safety agencies are facing spending reductions of 5 percent or less, while other agencies will have up to 28 percent lopped off their budgets.
According to county Chief Financial Officer Ed Corser, as it stands now, the county will go into 2012-13 with a $13 million structural budget deficit, due mainly to lower property tax receipts, sales and investment income, as well as higher labor costs.
Up to 200 jobs may be on the chopping block.
Over the last four years, the county’s discretionary revenue has plummeted $215 million, or about 27 percent.
“We’re on the fragile side of having a balanced budget,” Corser said. “We’re going to make further budget cuts. Looking ahead to 2013-14, we will propose a list of cuts at that time.”
The CFO and Executive Officer Larry Parrish emphasized that plenty of uncertainties lay ahead, including how the state and federal governments manage their finances and whether an economic recovery takes root.
Supervisor Jeff Stone remained wary, worrying that the county’s $160 million reserve pool — once well over $300 million — was “at a very dangerous level” and that the nearly 18,000 county employees were “not commensurate with our revenue streams.”
“I’m concerned that our government is bloated,” Stone said. “The biggest cost to the county is personnel … We need to concentrate a little bit more on layoffs. It’s not a popular subject. But I have to represent the constituents of the county who pay the bills. The truth isn’t pretty, but we’re still in the midst of an economic crisis that calls for bold decisions by this board.”
The county has trimmed around 1,000 positions since 2007, either through pink slips, attrition or early retirements.
Parrish mentioned past challenges of trying to slice more from the budgets of the county’s “sacred cows” — public safety agencies, which consume the largest share of discretionary income — to which Stone replied he would not support additional cuts to law enforcement.
Sheriff Stan Sniff and District Attorney Paul Zellerbach are slated to give their budget impact presentations tomorrow.
