Supervisors tentatively approve $4.7 billion budget for next fiscal year

Riverside County supervisors today tentativelyapproved a “fragile” $4.7 billion budget for fiscal year 2013-14, holding offon full implementation of the financial blueprint until the county’s yearendbalance sheet is clearer.

The Board of Supervisors is slated to formally adopt the budget on Sept.10.

“We’re using one-time money where appropriate (to balance thebudget),” county Chief Financial Officer Ed Corser told the board during apublic hearing at the County Administrative Center in downtown Riverside. “We’ve protected our reserves. The budget is balanced today. But it may not bewhere we are tomorrow.”

Corser noted that the budget was 6 percent smaller than in 2012-13,mostly because of the loss of redevelopment revenue. A bill signed into law byGov. Jerry Brown ended counties’ redevelopment programs in 2011, with Brownarguing that the share of property taxes dedicated for revitalization projectsshould be available to other entities, including school districts and specialdistricts.

County discretionary revenue is projected to increase 3 percent, oraround $17 million, in 2013-14, Corser said. Despite the growth, the countywill have to draw down several general fund accounts to meet its financialobligations.

The discretionary funding gap — the difference between $630 million inprojected expenditures and $586 million in revenue — will be covered using a”budget stabilization set-aside” and cash on hand, according to the ExecutiveOffice.

“This structural balance is fragile,” county CEO Jay Orr said. “Wemust still determine if general funds will be needed to address the hospital’sfiscal challenges, public safety departments’ (shortfalls) and the unforeseenimpacts of Assembly Bill 109, among other issues.”

The Riverside County Regional Medical Center is projected to have a $35million deficit in 2013-14. However, county officials are counting on”receivables,” or ongoing patient payments for services, to erase some of thered ink.

Sheriff Stan Sniff told the board in April that the Executive Office’sbudget target for him to meet next year was a “bridge too far.”

The sheriff’s department is facing expenses totaling $600 million andneeds an additional $55 million in board-approved general fund support. Corserindicated today that the Executive Office understood Sniff’s dilemma and wasprepared to assist, at the board’s direction.

The sheriff’s department is engaged in a recruitment drive to fill 500positions to have sufficient personnel to expand the number of deputies onpatrol in unincorporated communities and to adequately staff the jails.

The supervisors spent the last part of the budget hearing on AB 109, thePublic Safety Realignment Act of 2011, which most of them disdain. Sniff andother officials blame the legislation for exacerbating jail overcrowding andcontributing to an increase in localized crime.

“Our jails are congested,” said Supervisor Jeff Stone. “One inmategoes out and another goes in. Violent crime is up. In Hemet and San Jacinto,there’s increasing crime. Why? Because we have more felons congesting ourjails.”

Under AB 109, so-called “non-serious, non-violent” offenders convictedof felonies that do not stem from a sex crime are to serve their sentences inlocal detention facilities. Proponents of realignment suggested that jailsentences would be capped at three years, but that has not held true. Someconvicts in local facilities are serving terms in excess of 10 years.

AB 109 also made counties responsible for prosecuting and, often,incarcerating parole violators.

In 2012, Sniff released nearly 7,000 “low-level” inmates early forlack of space. Under a two-decade-old federal court order, the county must havea bed for each detainee or let some of them go.

The county has just under 4,000 beds available.

Stone said the need for a Mid-County Detention Center, or “Hub Jail,”remains strong, even if the funds aren’t readily available.

A 200-acre site just off Interstate 10 in Whitewater should be made”shelf-ready” if a federal grant or other funding source makes the projectaffordable, Stone said.

“We have to plan for today and the future,” Stone said. “If we’re notgoing to build on the site, let’s sell the ($23-million) property.”

The Hub Jail, which was knocked off the county’s list of capitalimprovement priorities in 2011, would cost at least $300 million to build andmake operational, according to estimates.

Coachella Valley tourism and hospitality interests widely oppose theconcept, saying it would severely degrade the area’s appeal.

A county Jail Committee will hold its first meeting next week to beginstrategizing how best to address the county’s jail space deficit.