Preserve the reserves and ask for concessions from the county’s
unions. It is the fiscally sound and politically wise way to
approach solving the county’s current budget crisis.
The latest tactic suggested in the battle of Santa Clara County supervisors to close a $227 million budget gap is tapping into reserve funds.
The idea has appeal – it would allow supervisors to reduce the difficult, drastic spending cuts it must make following the failure last year of a half-cent
sales tax measure – but it is not without significant drawbacks.
The plan, championed by supervisors Ken Yeager and Liz Kniss, to use as much as $20 million of the county’s hard-won $87 million reserve could hobble the county’s ability to respond in case of a natural or man-made disaster.
“These funds are for disasters … an earthquake, a terrorist attack, a pandemic … for one-time expenses,” Supervisor Don Gage said. “I know it would ease the pain and I don’t like making cuts, but we need to find permanent sources of revenue to maintain our services.”
We echo Gage’s concerns and urge supervisors to try something that hasn’t been mentioned yet: renegotiating union contracts.
Labor costs – high salaries, generous benefits, fat pension packages, abundant paid holidays – are one of the county’s largest expenses.
Finding ways to save money there, it stands to reason, would have a big impact on the budget crunch.
There’s precedent for this idea. A few years ago, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputies agreed to defer pay raises during a different budget crunch in order to avoid layoffs.
That’s not the only benefit of union concessions. Asking for and receiving such concessions would go a long way toward convincing voters that the county will wisely spend any additional revenue when officials ask them the next time to increase the sales tax.
We’re convinced that a lack of trust in that area, fostered by the county’s doubling of its sales tax request from the justifiable quarter-cent increase to the unacknowledged but well-understood BART-financing half-cent increase is why the last sales tax measure failed. That’s why supervisors find themselves in the current financial pickle.
Preserve the reserves and ask for concessions from the county’s unions. It’s the fiscally sound and politically wise way to approach solving the county’s current budget crisis.
