San Jose
– The county’s budget doldrums are gloomier than usual this
year. In less than two months, the board of supervisors will
attempt to pass a budget that addresses a staggering $238 million
deficit.
San Jose – The county’s budget doldrums are gloomier than usual this year.
In less than two months, the board of supervisors will attempt to pass a budget that addresses a staggering $238 million deficit. Departments are being asked to slash $156 million. The board may use some $82 million in one-time funds. The health and hospital system alone, a safety net for the county’s most needy residents, is facing cuts of $109 million.
Public safety and justice services, including the departments of correction, probation, district attorney, public defender and sheriff are being asked to slash $22 million. Social services face $14 million in reductions. More than 500 jobs may be eliminated through attrition and layoffs. That excludes the impact to non-profit agencies, which could lose employees as vital county funding disappears. At the end of the day, county leaders fear residents will have fewer places to turn for low-cost health care and social services.
“We’re caught between a rock and a hard place,” said Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage. “We have to cut all these services … but if we continue to use one-time funds, eventually we’ll have none left.”
In the last few weeks, department heads have presented their proposed reduction plans to board committees. Administrators are meeting with County Executive Pete Kutras to reach agreements on how the cuts should be achieved. A four-day budget workshop is planned for May and supervisors will attempt to adopt a budget in June for the fiscal years beginning July 1.
With so much at stake for so many agencies, heavy lobbying has already begun – earlier than usual in the budget season.
“I haven’t had one agency that hasn’t said to me, ‘You can’t cut from us’ ” Gage said. “The board is going to have some tough decisions. I understand we’re cutting human services, but we don’t have a choice. It’s a terrible decision to have to make.”
Painful fiscal choices are nothing new for Santa Clara County. Since 1993, supervisors have faced shortfalls every year, except for the “dot-com boom” from 1999 to 2002 when elected officials actually restored lost services.
But for the last five years, deficits have totaled more than $800 million, requiring a workforce reduction of 1,400 county jobs. As hard as it’s been for deficit-fatigued departments, there’s still no relief in sight.
“It speaks to the extent to which we don’t control our own revenue,” said Santa Clara County Budget Director Leslie Crowell. “We are not fully reimbursed by the state and federal governments for mandated services.”
While the county gets state and federal funds to provide mandated services, the money doesn’t cover all the programs the county currently offers. That’s the situation with the mental health department, which is being asked to absorb $34 million in cuts. Some 8,000 residents who lack private health insurance but don’t qualify for Medical will lose services. As painful as it is, the county is getting to the point where services that aren’t absolutely required will fall by the wayside.
“We have tried over the years to piece together our safety net of services,” Crowell said. “But now the gap between revenues and expenditures is too high.”
The county’s major funding sources are the state, the federal government and property taxes. But the sources are volatile. While the economy’s downturn has slowed property-tax growth, state legislators have also diverted funds to solve California’s $35 billion deficit. At the same time, the county faces rising expenses from retirement benefits and the need to bring Santa Clara Valley Medical Center into compliance with new earthquake standards by 2013. The seismic project alone is expected to cost $1.2 billion.
To meet budget targets, departments are being asked to trim both salaries and benefits. Their focus should be on keeping services that support the goals of a reduced jail and juvenile hall population, according to the deficit solution package supervisors adopted last September.
The extra streamlining means fewer services for those who don’t have health care and don’t qualify for Medical.
“It’s a tough situation,” said Joy Alexiou, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital System. “Health care has been taking hits for years now. This round is going to really affect those who don’t have any public or private insurance.”
Immunization programs could shrink, tobacco prevention and education could disappear, nurses could be laid off and the South County Regional Office on Highland Avenue in San Martin could close, forcing health care workers to travel farther to serve residents of Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Martin.
“Nobody wants to make these cuts,” Alexiou said. “But when you’re looking at a $19 million reduction, you have to look at reducing services you don’t want to cut.”
