People living outside city limits could wind up paying a fee for
emergency calls under a plan to save $2.3 million in the county
budget.
San Jose – People living outside city limits could wind up paying a fee for emergency calls under a plan to save $2.3 million in the county budget.
Currently, those residents don’t pay for 911 calls. That could change Friday, when supervisors debate a flat monthly fee of 27.3 cents per phone line – including cell phones – for residents and businesses.
The earnings would leave supervisors just $587,000 shy of the $2.9 million in programs they are hoping to save.
Supervisors are scrambling this week to balance their $3.8-billion budget while partially preserving programs slated to be cut.
“We’ll find it,” said Santa Clara County budget manager Leslie Crowell Wednesday afternoon after attending a grueling public safety and criminal justice department budget session before the supervisors at the county building in downtown San Jose. “We have to decide what to change about the budget and we’ll have an internal debate about that. We have to open the book back up.”
Unfortunately, the county can’t just “come up with the money” without taking it from somewhere else in the budget, Crowell said.
Administrators will bring a proposal to supervisors Friday morning before the board finally votes on its fiscal year 2007-08 budget.
In what amounts to another year of cuts and layoffs for county departments, supervisors are struggling to adopt a budget that includes a $227 million deficit. To help plug the gap, departments are being asked to cut about $146 million and eliminate up to 500 jobs.
The county is getting some relief from $9 million in additional state and federal revenues the Social Services Agency learned it would start receiving next year due to unanticipated state and federal monies for the county.
Supervisors are likely to use the money to partially restore health and hospital programs on the chopping block, including the San Martin health clinic on Highland Avenue.
On Wednesday, supervisors forwarded favorable recommendations to restore $686 million in ongoing funds for the offices of the public defender, district attorney and sheriff, including money for a truancy abatement program in which Gilroy public schools participate and the county’s sole rural crime deputy.
“I am deeply concerned about the decisions made by the county that impact the lives of hundreds of children,” said Frank Valadez, the attendance officer for Gilroy Unified School District, speaking at the hearing. “If the truancy division is cut, this will result in more kids being arrested because they are not in school.”
