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Santa Clara County supervisors started the daunting task of addressing an anticipated budget deficit of between $200 million and $600 million, with jobs as the first place to cut.
Before kicking off discussion Monday of the specifics of how to address the shortfall, supervisors reviewed their challenges, including uncertainty in federal and state funding and the unclear severity and duration of the pandemic. They were stymied by the knowledge that this massive deficit cannot be solved with one-time funding solutions.
The current budget up for debate is planned to resolve about $144 million of the county’s shortfall, primarily through the elimination of staff. Jeffrey Smith, county executive officer, said the proposed job cuts are primarily funded, vacant positions.
“We asked certain departments to match, or come up with reduction targets … This is just a start, we expect more later,” Smith said. “But we think we gave you a proposal here that is relatively easy because the positions, the majority of the positions are vacant.”
Department heads have come up with plans to move employees around to prevent layoffs.
“So with this budget, no one will go out the door,” Smith said.
Despite the proposed budget cuts and deletions, the county acknowledges there still will be a large deficit that will need continual cost reductions throughout the next fiscal year. Supervisors plan to revisit the budget in November and February.
Proposed position deletions include:
Office of the County Executive: One public communication specialist, one protocol officer and two multimedia communication officers.
Office of Sustainability: One program manager II.
Division of Equity and Social Justice (DESJ): Two management analyst, one community outreach specialist, one training and staff development specialist, one graphic designer II and one research and evaluation specialist II.
Also planned is the elimination of one senior loss prevention specialist in the Liability and Property Insurance Division of the Risk Management Department.
There weren’t only cuts in the proposed budget. Suggested places to allocate county funds included:
Registrar of Voters: Ongoing funding of $952,800 to fund additional extra help hours.
County Library District: One-time funding of $4,522,136 for the purchase of fixed assets.
Budget Director Greg Iturria said the county is attempting to balance the rest of the budget. The county expects to lose an expected $24 million on delinquent tax payments and penalties because Gov. Gavin Newsom in May signed an executive order mandating property tax relief.
“On everyone’s mind right now is that we don’t have the additional federal stimulus money … many of us hoped for,” Iturria said. “The state budget was adopted with automatic trigger cuts. If the federal government doesn’t provide at least $14 billion in new flexible aid … we need to be prepared for another round of cuts … We want to have some set aside to help us prepare for that.”
Federal funding has been inadequate in volume, in amount and in flexibility, Iturria said. The federal government’s aid has too many restrictions on top of inadequate amount of funds, he said, so the county will need to look for additional funding.
Supervisors were concerned about the elimination of positions and how those deleted positions might be added back if needed.
Iturria assured that through an “add/delete” process, county offices will have flexibility in hiring and filling holes. Just because a position is deleted doesn’t mean a department can’t come back to the county in the event that a retirement or resignation occurs and be able to institute a needed position somewhere else.
Discussions will continue via Zoom all week. The budget is set for final approval at the supervisor’s meeting Friday.
Contact Madelyn Reese at reese.madelyn@gmail.com or follow her on
Twitter @MadelynGReese
I don’t see any cause for concern. California is the best state, everyone is moving here and nobody is fed up and looking to leave. Low taxes, low crime rates, clean streets, breathable air, a well managed forestry and an excellent climate for small business.
The key now is for all five Santa Clara County Supervisors to endorse the 3-county sales tax increase for Caltrain on the November ballot (Measure RR). Paying adults to play with empty trains is far more important that any services the county might provide. Plus, money is just paper. Right?
I hate to burst some peoples bubbles regarding that the valley is going to come out of COVID in the same state it was prior to it.
But the reality is that as Work From Home has become the Standard Operating Procedures for most workers in the valley, most of the businesses are making permanent changes making living here not necessary.
Consider the Implications,
The problem with your theory is that prior to any equilibrium, there is going to be a serious collapse. In fact Bloomberg is predicting a “tech exodus” the story is found here (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-18/the-silicon-valley-tech-exodus-could-be-a-plus).
The reality is that COVID has started the ball rolling regarding the collapse of quality of life businesses in the valley. My greatest loss was Clark’s Burgers. The reality is that those that are in the position to do so are leaving, and those not in the position are stuck.
And AB5, the Microsoft case (https://www.reuters.com/article/businesspropicks-us-findlaw-dont-treat-c/dont-treat-contractors-like-employees-idUSTRE53063S20090401) and the Dynamex case (https://www.laboremploymentlawblog.com/2018/05/articles/class-actions/dynamex-decision-independent-contractors/) regarding contractors is forcing tech workers to relocate out of state to avoid the tech business to reclassify them as employees.
Finally, there are companies making plans to leave the valley in secret. I remember when Symantec announces a Worker Adjustment and Reduction Notice earlier this year. Now we hear that Palantir moving out of the valley to Colorado found here (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/19/palantir-headquarters-moves-from-silicon-valley-to-colorado.html#:~:text=Charles%20Platiau%20%7C%20Reuters-,Data%20analytics%20software%20company%20Palantir%20Technologies%20is%20relocating%20its%20headquarters,pages%20to%20reflect%20the%20change.).
The valley is about to get an abrupt transformation that is going to be permanent and significant. The County knows about it.
From the 2012-13 fiscal year to 2018-19, the county budget has grown by 84.3%, vastly outpacing population growth and inflation.
Interested Citizen,
Perhaps there was financial recovery from the great recession, i can only imagine the debt that had to be paid off during this time frame.
Unfortunately, this disaster is going to make that one look like a firecracker.
It may take 2 decades for the valley to recover the COVID, AB5, and the fires now.
All I can say is if you can stick it out for the county, but I know many will leave to find greener pastures.
You cannot just say that an 80% increase in budget was in effect a “wasted” budget, you have to demonstrate what was wasted and how to avoid it in the future. Please help us understand you?