County supervisors will discuss the future of regional parks on Tuesday after hearing recommendations from a local group trying to rescue the parks from extinction. The Grassroots Working Group (GWG), an independent citizen-volunteer group, was formed in 2010 to explore ways to keep area parks open without further straining the county budget. “We consider the current condition of the County Regional Parks Department to be beyond critical,” wrote Charlea Moore, an Elverta resident and Grassroots Working Group member, in a letter to the Board of Supervisors. “Something must be done very soon in order to rescue our regional parks and open space system, or the result will be an enormous los

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

Sacramento County officials are predicting the county could face a $9 million gap in addition to its current budget hole of $166.5 million. A big chunk of the estimated $9 million consists of costs from laying off hundreds of employees during the 2009/2010 budget process. The extra $9 million was news to county officials — a county budget document presented to reporters Thursday states the $9 million was “recently identified.”     Of the $9 million, $6 million are costs to the county’s general fund for unemployment insurance and pension obligation bond payments, according to the document. “That’s primarily (because) as the county has layoffs and folks have gone out the door — there’s le