Sacramento County’s elected officials cut 23 county engineering jobs on Wednesday as they passed the second draft of a budget for the 2010/2011 fiscal year.

The lost jobs in the engineering department follow 380 county worker layoffs that resulted from the Board of Supervisors’ June budget decisions. The county’s general fund budget is now at $1.9 billion.

Supervisor Don Nottoli said that board’s decisions to cut services are “a reflection of the general economic times.”

The engineering department will lose 29 positions. Because the county uses a complex layoff process, it is unclear at this point how many actual layoffs the engineering department will experience in the coming weeks. However, 23 people could lose their jobs because 23 of the 29 positions are filled.

Supervisor Roger Dickinson joined with the board to unanimously approve the layoffs and other parts of the budget. However, Dickinson split with his colleagues on one issue — he voted against cuts in the county’s health and human services departments that would affect services at health clinics.

“There’s nobody else who looks out for the most vulnerable in our communities, governmentally speaking, than counties,” Dickinson said, adding that he would not vote for cuts to clinic services.

However, he was the lone dissenting vote on that issue, so the cuts were approved.

While the Board of Supervisors considers Wednesday’s budget decision to be final, board members will likely address the county’s budget again after the state passes its budget.

Because the county manages state programs at the local level, state budget cuts lead to county budget problems.

Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.