Balancing County Budget May Require Cutting More than 200 Positions

Sonoma County may have to eliminate 223 positions and layoff 63 employees to help balance its 2011-2012 budget, County Administrator Veronica Ferguson informed the Board of Supervisors this morning.

Ferguson estimated in January that 300-500 positions might be eliminated -- 300 to help close a $44 million deficit in its $377 million general fund budget and 200 more because of potential state budget actions. The county currently has around 3,800 employees.

County departments were asked in January to identify 25 percent savings in their budgets. The criminal justice portion of the budget, which includes the sheriff's, district attorney's, public defender's and probation offices, would lose 115 positions.

Administrative and fiscal service sectors of the budget would lose 54 positions. The latest figures are preliminary, however, and the county will not know until mid-September how many positions and actual jobs will be lost until the state legislature adjourns after presumably passing the state budget, Ferguson said.

"This is the worst budget I've ever seen. We have to be as conservative as possible," said Supervisor Valerie Brown, a board member since 2002.

This year, 135 county employees are expected to participate in a Voluntary Separation Incentive Program, Ferguson said. Each employee will receive $20,000 to end their employment with the county.

The payouts will cost $2.7 million but are expected to save $15.6 million in annual, ongoing salary and benefit costs, Ferguson said. Updated figures will be known in July, she said.

The county has received 15 cost-saving ideas from its employees. They include purchasing efficiencies, reducing some retirement benefits, combining smaller departments into larger departments with similar programs, and establishing a county-wide hiring freeze in lieu of layoffs.

Some of the ideas need the approval of employee unions. The county will release its $1.1 billion total budget on June 1 and hold hearings June 13-24.

-Bay City News