GILROY
– During its fourth day of public hearings, the Santa Clara
County Board of Supervisors approved a balanced $3.4 billion budget
for 2004-05, making $200 million in cuts that left no department
untouched.
GILROY – During its fourth day of public hearings, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved a balanced $3.4 billion budget for 2004-05, making $200 million in cuts that left no department untouched.
The budget cuts run deep: “Safety net” mental health and drug and alcohol programs’ budgets were slashed by 10 percent; 550 positions were deleted; and the Harold Holden boys’ ranch in Morgan Hill will close.
“Everybody had to have a cut,” Supervisor Don Gage said. “We cut $200 million, but we were able to save some of those programs, which is good.”
There are several positives to be found in the final budget picture, however, that will benefit Gilroy and South County.
One program saved is a 24-hour crisis line run by Community Solutions, a non-profit that provides crisis, counseling and support services with locations in Gilroy and Morgan Hill.
Slated to be cut as a result of reductions totaling 16 percent of the Social Services Department’s $12 million budget, the crisis line will now be spared. County supervisors last week approved restoring $473,000 to the department. Then, when County Executive Pete Kutras found an additional $262,000 Tuesday, Gage pushed to direct that back to social services, making its total reduction 10 percent of its budget.
“That (16 percent) represents a larger cut than the other “safety net” programs got, so that brought it in line with mental health and drug abuse,” he said. “Community-based service organizations were hit hardest, and I just thought they needed to not get cut so much.”
The county deferred a $45 million payment to its Public Employee Retirement System for the first time ever to save some of its safety net programs. The current 10 percent reduction to mental health and drug and alcohol services is actually lower than the anticipated 12 to 14 percent.
“Don was truly an advocate for this. He was a big part in making it happen, and we are very thankful for that,” said Erin O’Brien, president and CEO of Community Solutions. “It’s not that it doesn’t hurt, but it has significantly less impact than before.”
The extra funding will help maintain programs run by the Mexican American Community Services Agency (MACSA), said Roland Velasco, Gage’s policy aide.
Gage also pushed to save two deputy sheriffs serving the Gilroy, Morgan Hill and San Martin areas. The deputy sheriffs patrol unincorporated areas of the county and will preserve response times for South County.
“They were going to get (pink slips,) they were informed by the sheriffs, but we were able to keep them,” Gage said.
A senior nutrition service that delivers hot meals to senior citizens’ homes was restored with $400,000, supervisors made a one-time payment of $80,000 to keep 4-H from being cut, and $35,000 will keep a volunteer firefighter training officer.
A total of 550 positions were eliminated from next year’s budget, although largely due to county employees taking advantage of early retirement incentives. At least 607 employees have signed up to retire early – 22 percent of those eligible – while current contracts were awarded only modest wage or salary increases for 2004-05.
“Providing an incentive for employees to retire now made good business sense,” Supervisor Pete McHugh said. “Without the incentives, the county would have to lay off other employees and turn around and hire new employees as the retirements dribble in. That would have been extremely disruptive to services.”
Closer to home for Gilroyans who visit the library or nearby county parks, the county cuts mean fee increases. Overdue fines at libraries increased from 24 cents to $1; car tent camping fees went from $15 to $18 and county park entrance fees increased from $4 to $5 per car.
In Morgan Hill, the closure of the Holden boys’ ranch could mean 30 to 60 Probation Department personnel positions will be cut. With the William S. James ranch nearby, Gage said, the closure could help streamline those services.
“It will, because you don’t have to double-up on counselors, you don’t have to have two kitchens, all that stuff,” he said. “They’re so close to each other, you can consolidate them into one.”
Also consolidated into one were the Office of the Medical Examiner/Coroner and Sheriff’s Department. The county saves $235,000 by eliminating the position of chief medical examiner and shifting administrative and oversight duties to the sheriff.
Friday’s final budget approval ended a six-month process that opened to public testimony in May. It’s been a grueling process, Gage said, but it isn’t over yet. A $47.3 million reserve is included in anticipation of more budget cuts from the state next month.
“I’m worn out,” Gage said.
