RIVERSIDE — Riverside County supervisors approved a $5.08 billion budget for the coming fiscal year Tuesday despite qualms over reallocating funds to public safety and fears of fiscal fallout from the state’s financial quagmire.

The unanimous vote came after more than two hours of debate and public comments, much of which centered on pay and benefits concessions the county is seeking from three labor unions, as well as the use of reserves to make up revenue shortfalls in sheriff and district attorney operations.

More than $20 million was earmarked to cover deficits in the sheriff’s and district attorney’s budgets, according to Executive Office documents.

Supervisor Bob Buster complained the county’s $50.6 million structural budget deficit was partly the result of the public safety departments balking at 10 percent across-the-board spending cuts that other departments implemented at the board’s behest.

"It’s completely ridiculous. I’ve never seen anything that so insults the whole budget process," said Buster, whose district includes Lake Elsinore, De Luz and other communities. "We are sparing certain favored departments from obvious retrenchment."

Board Chairman Jeff Stone countered that the use of budget reserves to maintain public safety services and avoid terminating sheriff’s deputies was necessary.

"Public safety needs to be number one," said Stone, whose district includes the Temecula, Murrieta and Menifee areas. "There’s a fundamental difference between the sheriff’s department and other agencies in this county: these men and women put their lives on the line to make sure we’re protected."

Without the additional funding for the sheriff’s department, nearly 500 deputies would have been laid off and the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning – which is operating at its capacity – would need to be closed, Stone said.

Buster said the Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s office have "ramped up" hiring over the past five years.

"They’ve been given everything and more. They should be the departments now with the flexibility to reduce just 10 percent [from their budgets]. But that’s not happening," Buster said.

The county’s discretionary income – including property tax revenue, sales receipts and investment earnings – is down $130 million because of the current economic collapse, according to the Executive Office.

The new fiscal year began Wednesday and nearly 200 layoffs are expected in the coming months in the Animal Services, Child Support Services, Human Resources, Mental Health and Public Health departments. The initial projection was for nearly 1,000 job cuts.

However, because the county instituted spending cuts, dipped into reserves, ordered a hiring freeze and scaled down departmental managers’ benefits – with all of the supervisors and elected county officials voluntarily taking pay cuts – funding for hundreds of positions slated for the chopping block was tentatively restored.

The Executive Office warned that much of Advertisement
next year’s budget savings depends heavily on union employees conceding to a 10-percent reduction in pay and benefits.

Negotiations between the county and Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 721, the Riverside Sheriff’s Association and the Deputy District Attorneys Union continue. The deadline for closing new labor contracts is July 28.

"In the event that agreements fall short…managers in general fund departments will be expected to make up the difference through operational changes or layoffs," according to the document.

Several hundred members of SEIU, clad in purple t-shirts with their union’s logo printed on the front and back, showed up for the board meeting, with speakers asking that the supervisors not insist that county employees make salary and benefits concessions without first considering other cost-reduction measures.

"San Bernardino County has been able to shut down on Fridays without any adverse effects," said Jill Johnson-Young, a Child Protective Services worker. "We can save $200,000 by not putting lights on the dome [of the new District Attorney’s office tower] down the street. How about charging inmates for the cost of their daily [medical] care?"

"Don’t cut our staff and put people at risk of losing their homes," she urged.

The union has proposed a cost-saving strategy that includes more telecommuting, greater use of alternative work schedules, turning out the lights in empty offices and seeking more federal stimulus funds.

Many of the proposals paralleled "best practices" recommendations that Stone made in February. The board chairman noted that many of those ideas had not yet been acted on.

"I see many of you here on your own time fighting for what is just for your selves," Stone told the crowd. "And you’re fighting for something good. But we’re experiencing extraordinary economic times, unlike anything I’ve seen in my lifetime. The bottom line is, we have significant decreases in revenue outside our control."

The board has approved early retirement packages for more than 500 employees in the Probation and Sheriff’s departments and the District Attorney’s office.

If all eligible employees opted for an early exit from county service, the cumulative net savings to the county – provided many of the positions are not refilled – could range into the tens of millions of dollars annually, according to the Human Resources Department.

The 2009-2010 budget contains no funding for new capital projects, suggesting plans for the proposed central county hub jail in Whitewater may be on hold for the next year or two.

Roughly $106 million in reserves are built into the budget, but the Executive Office cautioned that $45 million should be set aside specifically to address shortfalls arising from the state’s deficit reduction plans, leaving the county with about $60 million for discretionary purposes.

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