Budget Reduction Efforts During FY2009/10

The FY2009/10 budget was adopted with the expectation that the Board would have to revisit the subject throughout the year to address impacts from State budget cuts and the economic downturn. The following is a highlight of the milestones, but does not begin to encapsulate a complete narrative of the budget reduction efforts embarked upon throughout the year. Click on the links to view the associated reports prepared for the Board of Supervisors.

May 26, 2009

  • Authorized a six-month use of the Voluntary Time-Off Program that allows employees to voluntarily reduce their work week with concurrence of their Department Head. This program can only be used during times of economic hardship.

June 23, 2009

  • Froze the majority of compensation adjustments identified in Groups 1 (Maintenance, Operations, medical and Trades) and 2 (Management, Executive and Confidential) of the Comprehensive Classification and Compensation Study. Projected savings of $1.4 million.
  • Authorized staff to re-open all existing employee organization MOUs and Unrepresented resolutions for the purpose of deferring cost of living adjustments in FY2009/10, creating a lower retirement tier for future employees, modifying the “cash-back” option provided to County employees for unused cafeteria plan dollars, and mandatory furlough days.
  • Authorized staff to calculate the feasibility of offering an Early Retirement Incentive program.
  • Modified the Management Incentive Program, reducing the performance adjustment by 33% for eligible employees, effective July 12, 2009. Projected savings of $218,169.
  • Deferred a scheduled 3% COLA in FY2009/10 for unrepresented employees. Projected savings of $831,517.

August 11, 2009

  • Authorized an Early Retirement Incentive program that would offer 2 years service credit to entice up to 156 eligible employees from 14 departments and 46 job classifications to retire by December 23, 2009.  Potential net savings if all employees participated in ERI was $28.9 million.

September 1, 2009

  • Received the first of almost monthly updates on various factors impacting the County budget, including the economic downturn and the State budget. Identified a potential shortfall of $11.5 million in the General Fund if expenditures were not brought in line with known available resources.
  • Reduced appropriations by a net of $3.18 million to reflect lower revenue projections and expenditure reductions to date.

September 22, 2009

  • Deleted (66.6) FTE positions. Reductions by Department were:
    • District Attorney: (6.0)
    • General Services: (4.0)
    • H&SS Behavioral Health: (2.0)
    • H&SS Health Services: (4.0)
    • H&SS Social Services: (15.0)
    • Library Services: (5.6)
    • Probation: (2.0)
    • Sheriff: (28.0)
  • Reaffirmed the continuation of the hiring freeze established in FY2008/09.
  • Reaffirmed the policy that any positions funded with one-time revenue would be allocated and recruited as limited term.

October 6, 2009

  • Directed the County Administrator to prepare targeted reductions of $9 million, or nearly 50% of the General Fund structural deficit estimated at $18.9 million. If left unchanged, this structural deficit would grow to $37.4 million in FY2010/11.  To achieve this, it was estimated that the equivalent of 11.3% of the $265.4 million in countywide salary and benefits, or $30 million, would need to be cut to generate the targeted General Fund savings.

October 27, 2009

  • Authorized the Director of Human Resources to initiate the procedures required to formalize the elimination of an estimated 205 FTE positions, of which 161 positions were filled at the time.
  • Directed the Director of Human Resources to continue meeting and conferring with recognized employee organizations to receive concessions that would mitigate pending layoffs and close the County’s structural deficit. 
  • At this point, only the Deputy Sheriff’s Association and the unrepresented employees had made any concessions. By the time layoffs would be put into effect, Mid Managers and Attorneys would have provided concessions. With exception of the MIP reduction, all concessions to this point were temporary.

November 24, 2009

  • Amended the Position Allocation List to delete (183.03) filled and vacant FTE positions to achieve the workforce reductions designed to mitigate the General Fund structural deficit. Layoffs would be effective January 2, 2010. Also, directed staff to return on December 8, 2009 with potential modifications to reduce this list, based on concessions and Board discussion.

December 8, 2009

  • Reinstated 11.125 FTEs to reduce the total workforce reduction to (171.905) FTE positions, of which 122.405 were filled at the time. Reductions by Department were:
    • Agriculture: (1.0)
    • Assessor-Recorder: (4.0)
    • Auditor-Controller: (2.0)
    • UC Cooperative Extension: (0.4)
    • County Counsel: (1.0)
    • Department of Information Technology: (4.0)
    • District Attorney: (12.0)
    • General Services: (8.50)
    • H&SS Admin: (2.0)
    • H&SS Public Guardian: (1.0)
    • H&SS Behavioral Health: (8.50)
    • H&SS Health Services: (4.0)
    • H&SS Social Services: (28.5)
    • Human Resources: (1.0)
    • Library: (2.50)
    • Office of Family Violence: (1.0)
    • Probation: (27.50)
    • Public Defender: (6.0)
    • Public Defender - Conflicts: (1.0)
    • Resource Management: (4.0)
    • Resource Management Public Works: (1.0)
    • Risk Management: (2.0)
    • Sheriff: (49.0)
    • Veteran Services: (1.0)

January 12, 2010

  • Authorized an additional six-month use of the Voluntary Time-Off Program.

January 19, 2010

  • Board Budget Workshop No. 1: The primary focus of this workshop was to take stock of where the County was and what was the status of departments in light of the incremental reductions over the past seven months.

February 2, 2010

  • Received a report on the results of the Early Retirement Incentive program. Estimated General Fund savings of $1 million in FY2009/10 and $4.9 million in FY2010/11, as a result of 69 employees participating in the program.  A total of 65 positions were deleted, as four positions had been deleted in November 2009.  Reductions by Department were:
    • Agriculture: (1.0)
    • County Administrator: (3.0)
    • County Counsel: (1.0)
    • Department of Information Technology: (1.0)
    • DoIT Communications: (3.0)
    • District Attorney: (2.0)
    • General Services: (1.0)
    • H&SS Behavioral Health: (3.0)
    • H&SS Social Services: (19.0)
    • Library: (1.0)
    • Probation: (7.0)
    • Public Defender: (7.0)
    • Public Defender – Conflicts: (1.0)
    • Resource Management: (3.0)
    • Resource Management Public Works: (8.0)
    • Sheriff: (4.0)

February 9, 2010

  • Received the Midyear projections that showed the County had made overall expenditure reductions of about $68 million that was offset by overall revenue projections that were down by more than $23 million.
  • Began the discussion that ultimately determined that the FY2010/11 budget should be built with the target of holding expenditures flat – meaning cuts in FY2009/10 would carry forward and any additional expenses had to be absorbed if not offset by additional revenues.
  • FY2010/11 budget to be prepared with no COLAs for unrepresented employees.

February 23, 2010

  • Board Budget Workshop No. 2: The primary focus of this workshop was to understand the magnitude of the General Fund structural deficit, which was estimated to be between $16 and $18 million. The ensuing strategy that would develop focused on tackling the structural deficit over four fiscal years.

March 23, 2010

  • Terminated the Management Incentive Program effective June 27, 2010, returning Department Heads to a five-step program that was in place when the MIP program was established.
  • Permanently reduced the Employer Paid Member Contribution (EPMC) by 3% for all unrepresented employees, effective April 4, 2010.
  • Approved an additional 3% EPMC reduction for unrepresented employees contingent upon equivalent permanent payroll concessions from all represented employee bargaining units.
  • Authorized the 3% COLA that was deferred in August 2009 for all unrepresented employees, except for the Board, Department Heads, Assistant Department Heads and Chief Deputies. 

March 30, 2010

  • Board Budget Workshop No. 3: The primary focus of this workshop was a discussion of potential revenue enhancements and automation enhancement that could be incorporated into the FY2010/11 budget. This discussion also solidified the concept that the FY2010/11 budget would be prepared, to the degree possible, with no increase in Net County Cost or General Fund Contribution.

April 26, 2010

  • Community Workshop on the Budget: Nonprofits from all sectors of the community engaged in a discussion that developed strategies for the delivery County services with fewer resources.  These ideas ranged from enhancing economic opportunities to rethinking what aspect of the community is best suited to delivering services.

May 4, 2010

May 25, 2010

  • Authorized another round of the Early Retirement Incentive program that would offer 2 years service credit to entice up to 41 eligible employees from 8 departments and 20 job classifications to retire by August 23, 2010.  Potential net savings if all employees participated in this ERI is $5.8 million.