County cutbacks proposed

Budget woes remained foremost in the minds of supervisors Tuesday as Glenn County looked at ways to cut another $1.1 million from its 2010-11 budget.

The board is looking at even bigger chunks out of departmental budgets including that of Glenn County Sheriff Larry Jones.

Board Chairman Steve Soeth and Supervisor Mike Murray recommended the sheriff's department reduce its budget by another $225,000 last week.

Jones responded with the offer of another $158,000 cut, but suggested he could not go below that figure without decimating his operations.

However, Finance Director Don Santoro suggested the board of supervisors look at restructuring the sheriff's department which he deemed, from a business perspective, "top heavy" with managers such a lieutenants.

Such a move could save close to $400,000, Santoro said, during Tuesday's meeting, However, Jones countered his lieutenants are salaried employees who are not paid overtime like the sergeants and the savings would not be that great.

Other departments under the financial knife include planning and public works at $235,000; the district attorney's office at $100,000 and the finance department at $220,000.

Clerk of the Board Sandy Soeth is being asked to cut her budget by $80,000 and offered $35,000.

But Soeth and Murray recommended eliminating her position for a savings of $80,000 this year and $100,000 next year.

The county counsel's office also is being asked to reduce its budget by $80,000 with the agriculture and assessor's departments each cutting back by $40,000. The probation department is slated to lose $15,000.

Soeth and Murray serve on a "ad hoc" committee that has met with department heads and employee union representatives in an effort to decide how to cut.

Tuesday's meeting brought more discussion from county managers about what they could do to balance the budget.

Assessor Sheryl Thur will save her $40,000 with the retirement of an employee while the retirement of Finance Director Don Santoro in December should save the county from $34,000 to $48,000, he said, last week.

The pending retirements of Agriculture Commissioner Mark Black and Personnel Director John Greco also will provide savings, but the figures have yet to be determined. Both men retire Dec. 30.

Supervisor Tracey Quarne said the effect of the three department head retirements needs to be examined as "they may open new possibilities."

His colleagues offered advice as well.

Supervisor Leigh McDaniel said "These are still dollars and we can't continue to deficit spend," so he was comfortable with the Ad hoc committee's target numbers.

A budget hearing is set for Sept. 21 before the board takes action. But it scheduled a special meeting Sept. 14 at 9 a.m. to see what the county departments will look like with those proposed figures.

Supervisor John Viegas did not like the proposal to eliminate the clerk of the board post because he views that job as critical to helping the board with state issues - especially with the loss of three big department heads in January, he said.

"It still gives us the biggest bang for the buck," Murray said. "We save $80,000 to $100,000 and still have the County Clerk to assume those duties."

If the post is cut, County Clerk-Recorder Sheryl Thur would be required to handle those functions.

Murray added as distasteful as it is lose the position, other cuts would require two or three jobs lost.

"We'd still be pushing the workload back on another department," Viegas said. "We are going backwards."

District Attorney Bob Holzapfel also complained about the $100,000 proposed cut to his department.

He warned the county would lose fraud and fine income if he were forced to cut an investigator's position to part time or eliminate it completely.

"Felonies don't pay," Holzapfel said. "They cost you money and the defendant goes to prison." But that is all the DA could concentrate on if these cuts are made.

Santoro also proposed adding another $183,000 towards the deficit from his department through reductions in computer contracts, his retirement and other account changes.