Photo: Sheriff John McGinness

It still sounds bad: The county laid off more than 240 employees earlier this month. But it was supposed to be even worse: A total of 800 layoff notices were sent to county employees in June.

Though 800 pink slips were sent to employees in June, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors and officials at county departments took steps to prevent several hundred of the planned layoffs, according to a county spokesman.

The county made major budget cuts to its departments and laid off 243 people to respond to its previous $180 million budget gap for the 2009/2010 fiscal year. The 243 figure does not account for layoffs at the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office and at the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department.

“After 800 letters were distributed, the Board or departments restored 293 positions due to various actions and rescinded those layoff notices,” County spokesman Zeke Holst explained. “That brought the total layoff notices down to 507. Of those, 197 transferred or demoted within their departments and 67 transferred or demoted to other departments.”

These actions lowered the number of layoffs to 243, Holst said. As late as July 1, Holst did not have an exact number for layoffs because county employees and managers were still figuring out how many people would lose jobs.

Meanwhile, the Sheriff's Department will lay off 209 sworn deputies and 40 other employees, Sgt. Tim Curran said. The last day of work for the Sheriff's Department employees facing layoffs will be Aug. 1.

Sheriff John McGinness acknowledged last month that he made an error when he crunched numbers for the numbers of layoffs at his department. When he corrected his error, he added about 80 more layoffs to the total.

The district attorney’s office is laying off 16 employees on Aug. 1, according to Shelly Orio, a spokeswoman for the office.

When the board of supervisors approved its proposed budget in June, the county still faced a $19 million budget gap in the state-mandated programs the county administers, according to Linda Foster-Hall, the county budget officer.

But the $19 million number “was a snapshot on June 17," Holst said. “Since that time, the number has fluctuated.”

Holst did not have a specific figure for the budget gap on July 20. County officials will present an update on the budget gap on Aug. 11, he said.

The county budget is now being affected in both positive and negative ways. “In a nutshell, we are in line to receive some federal dollars that will reduce the number [for the budget gap], which is good,” Holst said. “However, we are seeing a continued decrease in property tax and sales tax revenues.”

*Photo courtesy of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department. 

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.