Sacramento County’s budget situation for the 2011/2012 fiscal year could be described by the grammatically incorrect but accurate phrase “less bad.” In other words, the county’s budget gap of $90 million is less severe than the $181 million shortfall it faced last year. But the current gap, which is likely to result in a wave of layoffs, is still grim. County Interim Executive Officer Steven Szalay laid out budget details in a Friday morning press conference at the downtown county building on H Street. The county plans to cut 321 employee positions in its budget process, Szalay said. “I’m very sad to have to have these service-level reductions,” he said. “They’re definitely going to hur

Sacramento County has made about 340 fewer layoffs than it had predicted it would make as a result of June budget cuts. County officials in June estimated that at least 725 employees could be laid off. The county resolved a $181 million budget gap in June when it passed a first draft of its budget. But County Budget Officer Tom Burkart said in an interview Wednesday that the county ended up laying off about 380 people, instead of 725. “The 725 actually was an estimate,” Burkart said. “And we did cut 700-plus positions, but they weren’t laid off.” Retirements, demotions and vacant positions kept the number of out-the-door layoffs down, according to Burkart. The county’s layoff process