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By BRETT WILKISON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
A sheriff’s unit that specializes in bomb disposal, another dedicated to solving community crime issues and a panel that hands out nearly $600,000 annually to groups caring for the needy are all slated for elimination under the proposed Sonoma County budget released this week.
From tax collection to park maintenance, pest control to road upkeep, the proposal unveiled by County Administrator Veronica Ferguson would slash spending and services at most departments, affecting programs large and small.
Those include the Sheriff’s Office helicopter Henry 1, at a $1.9 million annual cost, and $22,000 the county provides for crossing guards at five school districts — Mark West, Forestville, Sonoma Valley, Petaluma and Roseland. Both programs would be axed to help fill a $42.8 million gap in the county’s 2011-2012 general fund.
Other efforts that have been cut in previous years or kept whole at the last minute would be trimmed. They include programs targeting domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault crimes, and those offering assistance for veterans, the mentally ill and substance abusers.
The spending plan is driven by a second straight year of declining property tax revenue, the main source of county funding. Together with a drop in other tax and interest earnings, total general fund revenue is projected to be down more than $11 million from the current year.
Ferguson, who is now into the second year at her post, called the spending plan the most difficult in a three-year string of reduced county budgets. Her hope, she said, was to preserve core county services.
“They are all terrible,” she said of the cuts.
The proposal would reduce spending from the general fund — the county’s main source of discretionary money — to $379 million, down 4 percent from the 2010-2011 figure of $395 million.
It does so by taking a bigger bite out of law enforcement and justice services, the single largest destination for general fund dollars. Spending at those four departments, including the Sheriff’s, District Attorney’s and Public Defender’s offices and the probation department is set to drop by 16 percent.
Sheriff Steve Freitas and District Attorney Jill Ravitch refused to sign off on the cuts, saying the reductions for their offices would jeopardize public safety.
“At some point you go past the point of fat and meat and you start cutting into the bone. That’s my concern,” said Ravitch. Like Freitas, she said supervisors could restore some high-profile programs and positions in their budget hearings two weeks from now.
Ferguson downplayed any rift with the sheriff and district attorney, saying she understood the reason for their stance. But she said she was not prepared to ask other departments to cut more from their budgets to bail out high-dollar public safety programs. Already those divisions, including administrative departments, planning and parks, among others, have slashed 20 to 25 percent of their spending. The same departments also took larger cuts, by percentage, in the 2010-2011 budget.
Other funding alternatives haven’t been put on the table. Ferguson recommended supervisors not touch the county’s main reserve fund of $35 million or use special one-time funds of about $30 million, both of which have been used to balance past budgets.
Employee concessions are also limited this year to five days of furloughs, expected to save the general fund about $1.6 million.
Instead, Ferguson’s proposal is a nearly all-cuts budget, relying on 223 job cuts and 63 layoffs. Those moves, which would cut the county’s workforce by almost 6 percent, are expected to generate about $30 million in savings. The remainder of the gap, about $13 million, would be closed through reduced spending on outside contracts, revenue increases from fees and other program cuts.
The proposal does not include changes that could result from the revised budget released last month by Gov. Jerry Brown. Some of his proposals could mean even deeper service and job cuts for the county, officials said. A closer look at those state-related effects will come next week in a supplement to the county’s budget proposal.
Proposed cuts outlined in the 314-page document released Tuesday included:
–Consolidation of the sheriff’s domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault unit with the violent crime unit, resulting in $831,000 savings but limiting investigations to felony crimes.
–The loss of four investigators, one victims advocate and four attorneys at the District Attorney’s office, including a prosecutor assigned to child abuse cases.
–Elimination of the Sierra Youth Center, the juvenile probation facility for girls, along with a pair of alternative detention programs.
–Elimination of one of three claims workers in the Veterans Service Office, resulting in about $2.5 million less each year available to local veterans.
–Elimination of the Human Services Commission, including the $588,000 it was to hand out this coming fiscal year to 26 community groups serving the needy and $243,000 in administrative funds.
Supervisors considered the same move last year with the commission before saving it with one-time stimulus funding. The possible elimination this year has nonprofit leaders nervous.
“It puts all of our contracts at risk,” said Katrina Thurman, executive director of West County Community Services. The group was set to receive $45,000 to help with its mental health counseling and emergency food and shelter programs. Without the county funding, those efforts and others might be shuttered, Thurman said.
“I could certainly make the case that this is the worst of all times to be cutting the safety net out from under people,” she said.
The $1.2 billion overall county budget, including state and federal funding, is up 2 percent over the current year due mostly to an accounting shift — the incorporation of taxes collected by the county’s open space district — and a small $1.8 million bump in state funding for health services and roads.
The budget proposal is available online and in print at the county administrator’s and auditor’s offices.
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@Peter B….You have no idea what you’re talking about. I should just stop at that statement but I’ll help you work through your ignorance. They do handle bomb calls. Just in the past several years they’ve diffused hundreds of pipe bombs build by teenagers, kooks and outlaw motorcycle gangs. They’ve removed suspicious packages left at the County Court house and at several banks where the suspect left a note stating he had a bomb. They respond to schools and other public facilities where bomb calls are placed. They’ve clear storage facilities where stockpiles of illegal fireworks are stored and/or manufactured, they’ve responded to old quarries and ranches where cases of old leaky TNT and dynamite for rock and stump busting have been found. They’ve been called out to dispose of old WWII hand grenades and mortars found at a house, and they respond to help dismantle meth labs that have the potential to explode. Just because you’ve never needed the services of the bomb squad or helicopter doesn’t mean they’re not needed.
I happen to know for a fact there has been bomb calls in the past five years, just because it isn’t in the paper doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
Who would you suggest to call for the non-bomb calls? The military will take about 5 hours to get here, so as long as you are ok with being evacuated from your house for that amount of time and the wasted resources waiting for the military to arrive.
Or perhaps we can call you to come open the package and make sure it’s not a bomb?
To AJK: You said it so well. This proposal takes the progress made for victims of domestic violence, women, and children, and sets it back about 20 years. All of a sudden that is less important now. Included in this proposal is a reduction in immediate responses to child victims of violence and sexual assault. This means they will just have to wait or their experiences may not be addressed at all. So to all of you who think this is about less “government involvement” think about what you would do if your son or daughter was raped, and who you would turn to if suddenly the experts in your area were no longer around to help you and your child, and instead they would have to settle for a lot less!
Resident:
I asked how many BOMBS have we had in Sonoma County over the last five years. How many actual, genuine bombs have we had in the last year? NONE.
I notice that you didn’t provide a location where the general public could study that claim, either. Perhaps because that information was only available easily to a member of the “bomb squad” such as yourself.
The “bomb squad” of Sonoma County is just a title with no actual work.
Nope. Same pay, less workers. More overtime. We have been here before. I already know the drill they will choose.
Cut baby cut. They built an empire and now it is crumbling. I have no interest in bailing them out. Government is too big and needs to downsize.
It’s already been said, “Same job, less pay”. Period!
Peter B
I never post but reading your post prompted me to do a little research to find that the Sheriff’s bomb unit averages 100 + EOD call outs a year. Yes, I was blown away when I read this. Personally if there was a suspicious package in my neighborhood I would rather a local unit respond and defuse intend of waiting hours if not days for the military to respond.
As far as the gang unit is concerned, there are over 6000 registered gang members in Sonoma county and these are violent people.
Make some phone calls and do your own research before posting facts….
you need revenue, stop cutting away at the revenue
Dem/Libs want to extend SB670 for five more years. this will close down business, grocery, hardware stores, gas staions small towns in sierra mountains depend on all matter of income, start with adding tax to the vineyards, don’t give them tax breaks like you do now,
California has been in democrate rule for the 30 plus years stop pointing the finger at the repub
This is terrible to cut programs that impact our youth….remember they are our future. Dont cut programs like Sierra Youth Center, they are by far the best program available in Northern California for girls! They should take pride in that! The girls made mistakes, But still….they are our future, they are getting what is needed most at Sierra Youth Center! Compassion, lifeskills, self esteem, education and a lot of love!
There are not any programs for girls, please dont cut this one!
This program has the best outcomes and have reached so many girls and turned their lives around…
Where can a girl get another chance?
Sierra…
They have job placement for the girls, the girls get their diplomas, they are involved in Girl Circle, Girl Scouts, gardening, animal programs, art and truly a staff that cares! PLEASE, look into another way…
It would be sooooo worth it!
Reality has set in and at least they are looking at cutting every department unlike Santa Rosa! You have to realize that the legal department is looking for job security as well as the public safety. And they make more money than the average employee too! Jill inherited a tough budget but she knew that coming in and has all of those attorney’s that may or may not be backing her up! We have to look at the whole picture of our economic difficulties citizens! We have to stop the mentality of punishing the citizens for the lack of funds. Public Safety and the the legal powers (City and County) have never been questioned about how they spend the money and instead are praised for “doing and spending whatever it takes” to win the case. The system that has been the norm for so many years is no longer working and it needs to truly be examined for sustainability and effect..and not because an attorney or police/sheriff says that they are down to the bone already! This kind of statement slaps of the fear based decisions and don’t do any of us any good. The foxes cannot be deciding how the money gets spent anymore…they will not give up anything because it is a conflict of interest right out of the gate. The County is even larger than the City and for many many years the budget for both was based on how much they spent the prior year except that they would add more…We need people who can add and substract the real costs and not manipulate them for their own benefit. Change is hard for everyone..but it is the right thing to do for the citizens that you have sworn to protect and serve. We need a whole fiscal system change for City and County to get through this rough time. I hope that the County’s budget is truly being reviewed for the good of the whole? This is a good start hopefully…..are you taking notes Santa Rosa? We are all in this together even if you do act like you only care about public safety employees and the attorneys/upper management. When it comes down to who has the most to lose..it is the citizens..we have every right to expect an honest tally of services needed.
@bear
Bill Clinton sent my job to Malaysia. I saw how it was done. Free trade agreements and massive tax breaks for off shoring jobs into counties with no environmental protections, or labor rights. There is an easy, cheap and dirty supply chain with no fingerprints.
Obama is no better. He thinks because the stock market is up he saved the economy.
Mr. President, regular working folks got no work.
The proposed 2011-2012 budget was posted online at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. It can be found at the county administrator’s website and the auditor’s site. Here is a direct link:
http://www.sonoma-county.org/cao/budget.htm
Brett Wilkison
Staff Writer
“The budget proposal is available online…”
Where? For someone who likes to check the facts for themselves, they sure don’t make this an easy thing to find!!
O Yea,
and let’s take back this comment board from the “tax-the-poor” “spend-on-the-rich” crowd. They never say anything useful, creative, or constructive anyway. They just whine about the GUBMINT!!
Maybe the county should finally look into the massive defrauding of Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS) by the banks that held titles to almost all of the real estate that ever gets sold. Every time banks sold or transferred a property from one institution to another (think housing bubble and crash) they were supposed to pay a fee to the county MERS program. They set up their own agencies instead, and did not pay MERS a cent.
Just a creative way to “find” the money that counties are complaining about. Like the article said,”The spending plan is driven by a second straight year of declining property tax revenue, the main source of county funding.” Part of the property tax revenue that counties get is not a tax at all but a fee paid by title holders when the title is transferred.
But, yes. Take away the helicopter, pass new taxes on those who can afford them, and finally get the taxes and fees that have been owed to the government for a long time. Then, put the dang money back into the community in the form of mental health services, aid for the desperately poor, protection for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence, and of course, this being SoCo, re-pave some roads so they’ll last more than one season.
Sheriff’s Office Gang Unit Deputies don’t get extra pay.
If you really want to see what units in the Sheriff’s Office get more pay,you can look up their MOU on the County website.
I know, I know, it’s way easier to spout off with no facts
What happened to the vaunted conservative principle of “personal responsibility?” You folks, who seem to have a lot of time on your hands, tend to evade that issue.
Bill Clinton (who I detest because Bush became president riding his zipper) nonetheless left us with a balanced budget, a reasonably healthy economy and no unwinnable foreign wars.
Ten years later, the economy is a disaster, home values are trashed, foreclosures are at record highs and very few people have been indicted for anything. Must be that “black president” thing.
For the last time, may I point out that every lost job – public or private sector, and every trashed pension, public or private sector – hinders economic recovery, hurts everyone and further reduces tax revenues so that more cuts will come next year.
That would include cuts in private sector employment that presumably include YOUR jobs.
If the republicans in Congress have their way, we are going to have a world-wide depression. You heard it here first.
WHAT are your economic goals? WHERE are the jobs that tax cuts for the rich were supposed to generate? Are ANY of you smarter than Palin/Bachman? I want to hear some reasoning on these issues.
NOT ideological rants.
Even better if you could mention, in a general way, qualifications that would give your opinions substance.
The County will face further cuts when the State Budget cuts hit home.
But maybe there won’t be State cuts after all as our legislators find unique new ways to increase spending.
Posted on the PD just a few minutes ago.
“SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers have opened the door to state-funded financial aid for immigrant college students who entered the United States illegally.
The state Assembly on Wednesday approved AB 131, part of the California Dream Act, on a 46-25 party line vote. It now goes to the Senate.”
“Consolidation of the sheriff’s domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault unit with the violent crime unit, resulting in $831,000 savings but limiting investigations to felony crimes.”
Once again, women, children, and sexual crimes get the short end of the stick, so to speak, and no one is even upset about it.
You’re all lamenting the potential loss of a helicopter, while the consolidation of these once separate departments and the resulting fact that now only felony cases will even be investigated — let alone prosecuted — will affect far more people.
But I get it. helicopters are big and flashy. sexual violence and child abuse? We’d rather keep it as invisible and out of the public discourse as possible. It bums us out.
Message to Terry:
The statistics of using the Sheriff’s Helicopter, “Henry 1,” don’t back up the cost involved.
Its a luxury of the Sheriff’s Dept than can easily be cut.
Press Democrat: Show every reader the cost break down of the program INCLUDING the wages of the pilot and support staff.
Uh, so they are going to eliminate the Sheriff’s Dept. “Bomb Squad.” ?
Wow. That hurts. I mean, how many “bombs” have we had in Sonoma County over the last five years?
There is a story for the Press Democrat. Lets see the statistics that back up spending money on a “bomb squad” that is all title and no work ?
There are plenty of other agencies in the region, including the military, that can be called upon during that rare, genuine “bomb” threat.
We don’t need a “bomb squad” in Sonoma County.
We don’t need a “gang squad”, either. Its another excuse to label routine police work as something more than it is. Each arrest record carries with it all the needed information on that person. The police are perfectly able to do their work based upon that information with the extra pay of being a “gang officer.”
When it comes down to giving the homeless and “needy” hundreds of thousands of dollars OR keeping the public safety services funded, I and many others vote 100% for public safety.
It is absolutely irresponsible and totally imcompetent for Valerie Brown and the Board of Supervisors not to make deep and substantial cuts and changes in the county pension plan. They and their predecessors have voted time and again for this give away pension plan.
Now is the time for a fundamental change in county finances. This deep, great recession is going to last a long time.
We will see if there are any real leaders among the politicans in high county office who are willing to say NO to the public sector unions.
Here is another sad fact that the PD never followed up on. In one of it’s articles in Sonomawatch dated May 5, 2011. The following was written:
“Neville listed Cooper’s alleged failure to draft a contract for veterinary services, her advocating inappropriately for the county to drop proposed fines against three animal welfare nonprofits”
If this is true. Why hasn’t the PD followed up on this lead and looked into this? Did the County drop fines? In this bad economy when they are having to layoff employees? What is going on here? Who does the PD answer too? Veronica Ferguson?
Please note this is just one Department. How many others out there are being given favors? How many jobs does that cost? Or programs?
What did we ever do without all these GOVERNMENT programs & agencies?
Oh yeah, we built the greatest nation in human history!
And what has become of other nations who clung for dear life to all their GOVERNMENT largess? Greece, Spain, Portugal, etc…
GOVERNMENT “help” run amok stifles innovation & productivity and wastes resources that could & WOULD be used to grow the economy, productivity and wealth.
Many of you either don’t get it or refuse too.
That’s OK, we have run out of other people’s money & it’s time to get back to reality.
Reality is… if you don’t have to innovate, produce and work because the GOVERNMENT will be there to “take care of you”, YOU WON’T!
If the outcome of your failure to innovate, produce and work means you’ll starve, you will become part of what it takes to build a great nation.
I know, you STILL don’t “get it”!
…you will!
Welfare doesn’t work
Taxpayers do
Well said.
Thank goodness the pensions were saved.
At least the pensions are safe!!
The retiring county Treasurer will still get nearly $250,000.00 a year in retirement …
Not bad considering he left Sonoma County with the highest per capita debt of all the other counties in California…
The cuts listed here are designed to pull at your heartstrings. Like Henry 1. That crew saves lives … especially on the coast – when REACH is busy.
Cuts in public safety hurt everybody.
What I would like to see is a list of all the FAT that was cut.
FAT Example: $50,000 a year to a web marketing firm to tweet for the Sonoma County Airport.
Show us more of the FAT LIST please.
Instead of cutting the much needed Henry 1, bill the idiots that are always needing it on the coast.