Supervisor seeks discussion about county’s future course
Ironing out Riverside County’s fiscal priorities for2013-14 is among the leading items on the Board of Supervisors’ agendatomorrow, when Supervisor John Tavaglione is slated to lead a discussion aboutresolving the county hospital’s shortfall and assessing the value of mergingagencies.
Tavaglione last week introduced a three-page memorandum listing a numberof issues that he says had not been adequately addressed with less than sixweeks to go before the end of the current fiscal year. The board decidedagainst taking up the matter until all five members could be present.Supervisor Jeff Stone was absent last Tuesday.
According to Tavaglione’s memo, the board should “publicly state itsfiscal and organizational priorities for the coming fiscal year” to ensure thecounty is “moving forward with one united voice toward a solid economicrecovery.”
Topping his list of concerns is what to do about the anticipated $50-70million shortfall in the Riverside County Regional Medical Center budget nextyear. County officials cite a variety of reasons for the red ink, including lowMedi-Cal reimbursements from the state, the delivery of medical care to a largenumber of indigent patients who don’t pay for services and county agencieseffectively being subsidized by the RCRMC.
Tavaglione noted that there is less than seven months to go before fullimplementation of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act — better knownas ObamaCare — and said the county hospital may not be able to compete forfederal funding under the act with such a gaping hole in its budget.
Tavaglione said another major concern was the planned consolidation ofthe Economic Development Agency and the Transportation Land Management Agency.The county has been merging operations in a bid to achieve greater efficiencyand lower costs. But Tavaglione said EDA should be left as a stand-alonedepartment for now.
The supervisor pointed to instances in which the agency proved its worth– infusing new life into the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival,handling the Southwest Justice Center expansion and making the Edward-DeanMuseum in Cherry Valley a top attraction.
“Dismantling one of our county’s key agencies now, at a time when oureconomy is finally rebounding … is unwise at best,” the supervisor said.
The supervisor also expressed concern about the county’s receipt nextyear of sufficient state funds to cover public safety “realignment” costs. Under Assembly Bill 109, passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov.Jerry Brown in 2011, a number of public safety functions previously handled bythe state were realigned to counties.
The legislation made counties responsible for supervising all but themost violent parolees — and prosecuting them for violations. AB 109 alsorequires that so-called “non-violent, non-serious” offenders not convicted ofa sex-related felony serve their time in county jail, instead of going to stateprison, even though their sentences could exceed 10 years. The law hasexacerbated capacity constraints in local detention facilities, according tothe sheriff.
Under realignment, 25,000 prisoners were released early from statecorrectional facilities to relieve overcrowding, and Tavaglione predictedanother 9,000 would be let out soon. Crime and public safety costs willcontinue to rise, the supervisor said.
He said the board needs to ensure the county’s interests are well-represented at the state level and make a decision on a proposed `hub jail” inthe central county region.
Tavaglione lastly questioned the ongoing centralization of the county’sinformation technology services. He said there was a “need to move slowly andwith caution” to avoid disrupting operations, particularly within theDepartment of Public Social Services and the county hospital.
The Department of Information Technology is in the process ofconsolidating 30 separate units to net the county around $12 million in annualsavings.
