Emergency call response times will suffer as a result of the nearly $1 million in budget cuts facing the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, according to the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff’s Association. When the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors approved the county's budget on Friday, it resolved a shortfall of $76 million. The county made major budget cuts to its programs and departments — including the Sheriff’s Department — and has laid off more than 700 employees since July.  The Sheriff’s Department will not face layoffs. However, the cuts will result in more vacancies for deputy positions at the department, said Kevin Mickelson, president of the Sacramento County Deputy

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