Declining state and federal funding will only worsen the county
budget in coming years, creating
”
wave upon wave of deficits that will continue to crash on the
shores of county services,
”
according to the latest budget message from Santa Clara County
Executive Pete Kutras.
Gilroy – Declining state and federal funding will only worsen the county budget in coming years, creating “wave upon wave of deficits that will continue to crash on the shores of county services,” according to the latest budget message from Santa Clara County Executive Pete Kutras.
In the 2007 fiscal year starting July 1, the county forecasts a $164.6-million deficit on a $3.1-billion operating budget.
The financial balancing act now playing out will hit the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center hardest. County officials have proposed cutting $27.5 million from the group’s budget and siphoning off $77 million of its reserves to offset the deficit. Smaller cuts and “one-time” funds will make up the remaining difference between county revenues and spending.
Kutras warned that residents can expect even more drastic cuts after the upcoming fiscal year due to diminishing funds from state and federal sources, which are expected to make up 54 percent of the county budget in 2007.
State support for health and human services has dropped by 16.5 percent in the last four years, according to county figures, while the county has had to cover the rising costs of Medicaid expenses for the last 15 years. Federal support, which accounts for 22.2 percent of the current budget, has started to decline and could accelerate within two years. By 2010, Kutras expects the county’s annual budget deficit to reach $170 million.
He managed to offset the current year’s $126 million deficit by eliminating 198 vacant full-time positions, refinancing the county’s retirement plan and drawing on about $40 million in “one-time” funds left over from the previous year.
Such options will no longer be available, according to Kutras. Instead, county officials will have to look at deep, across-the-board cuts at county programs and services and possibly the shuttering of entire departments.
“This recommended budget is giving us time to figure out how to make the next three years of cuts,” Kutras said. “This is our last gasp.”
