Proposed County Budget Touches Loma Linda and Addresses 'Fiscal Realities'

With 10 days left in the current budget, San Bernardino County Supervisors continued to pour over a proposed $3.8 billion 2011-12 budget that includes cutting more than 700 county positions.

There is no question that there will be a big impact said Greg Devereaux, County Administrative Officer.

The recommended $3.8 billion 2011-12 budget is balanced and does not use reserves to meet ongoing expenses, county officials said. It should close a $46.6 million structural deficit.

Some departments, such as San Bernardino County Sheriff's/Loma Linda Police and Loma Linda Library, part of the county library system, will be affected.

“The budget reflects the desire expressed by the Board of Supervisors last year to move the county in a new direction, characterized by taking a hard look at the county’s focus, fiscal condition, infrastructure and facility needs, operating systems, personnel, and service delivery,” Devereaux wrote in the budget summary.

The budget calls for a 2.3 percent reduction in spending and a 4 percent reduction in staffing, equal to a loss of 535 vacant positions and 233 filled positions for a total 768 positions.

According to a county news release, the County Administrative Office has developed a plan that includes negotiating an end to the funding of health benefit increases, employee compensation reductions and asking unions to forgo pay increases, among other measures.

All county departments are facing cuts or major changes. The San Bernardino County District’s Attorney’s office will lose 33 positions under this plan. The county’s probation department will be losing 77 positions.

And the county’s library system, essential to Loma Linda, will lose 141 positions, 113 vacant and 28 filled. San Bernardino County Sheriff’s officials have postponed plans to construct a new crime lab. San Bernardino County Fire officials agreed to 7 percent salary reduction, a 50 percent reduction in salary step increases and a capped medical subsidy that applies toward retirement calculations

The county is pushing to maintain some major projects and continues to look at ways to fund them.

During a recent meeting, the board of supervisors discussed the County’s 800 megahertz radio system at an estimated cost of $175 million.

“The board had been saving $24 million a year for capital facilities, for buildings,” Devereaux said. “Since it is not necessary to construct or purchase a new county government center, staff recommends, the primary reason to set aside the funds, that they instead be used to construct the radio system over the next five to seven years.”

The budget addresses other long ignored problems such as seismic upgrades, Devereaux said.

He called the budget very fiscally conservative.

"This is a budget that confronts the fiscal realities,” Devereaux said. “And makes hard choices. None of these choices are easy. We’d rather not be making them.”

The county board of supervisors are expected to vote on the issue on June 28 at the Covington Chambers, First Floor, County Government Center, 385 N. Arrowhead Ave. in San Bernardino.