Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "sacramento county board of supervisors"

County approves budget, layoffs expected

2011-06-10T01:22:31Z

Sacramento County elected officials approved a budget Thursday that could result in more than 200 employee layoffs, according to county budget officer Tom Burkart.

These layoffs for the 2011/2012 fiscal year are in addition to the 1,299 layoffs the county has made since the 2008/2009 fiscal year, said county spokeswoman Chris Andis.

She added that 1,299 people were actually laid off as opposed to job positions being cut.

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors balanced its budget for the 2011/2012 fiscal year on Thursday afternoon, closing out a $90 million shortfall. The county has a general fund of $1.9 billion and a total budget of roughly $3.5 billion.

The approved budget is a first version – the supervisors will pass a final budget in September.

While Burkart provided an estimate for upcoming layoffs, exact figures were unclear Thursday.

“As a board member and member of this community, it weighs heavily on me that over the past several years, we’ve laid off hundreds and hundreds of people,” Supervisor Don Nottoli said at Thursday’s budget meeting.

The people who will be laid off attend local churches, shop in local stores and send their children to local schools, he said.

Interim County Executive Officer Steven Szalay estimated that more than 300 job positions will now be removed. That number does not include lost job positions from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department and the District Attorney’s office, Szalay said.

District Attorney Jan Scully and Sheriff Scott Jones are responsible for calculating their departments’ lost positions and possible layoffs.

The loss of about 300 positions – which does not include the D.A’s office and the Sheriff’s Department – may translate to about 200 actual layoffs, Burkart said.

Positions are different from layoffs because they can include vacancies. The county also uses a complicated system of demotions as part of the layoff process, which can affect the number of actual layoffs.

The Sheriff’s Department had faced a $26.7 million shortfall, but Jones recently pared down that number to $9.5 million. Thursday, the Board of Supervisors brought down Jones’ budget shortfall to $4.3 million.

Jones was scheduled to hold a press conference late Thursday afternoon. The Sacramento Press will follow up on any information about possible layoffs at the Sheriff’s Department on Friday.

The District Attorney’s office is facing a $6.2 million shortfall in response to the Board of Supervisors’ budget approval. Scully’s office had a $13.3 million gap in February. She brought it down to $8.6 million. The supervisors restored about $2 million to the D.A.’s budget, leaving it with a $6.2 million gap.

In a press advisory released after the budget approval, Scully said the upcoming cuts to her office would hurt residents.

“Arrests take criminals off the street – only prosecutors keep them off the streets,” she said. “It is the responsibility of the Board of Supervisors to fund prosecutions for the entire county – the unincorporated areas and all of the cities.

“Most of the cases my office prosecutes come from the cities. By failing to take that into account, the board shortchanged more than 60 percent of our residents.”

Scully will speak publicly next week about how the cuts will affect her office, according to the news advisory.

While exact layoff figures are unclear, Andis provided statistics showing that the the departments of Human Assistance and Transportation are among other departments with filled positions slated to be cut.

The county’s drop in revenues since the 2007/2008 fiscal year has been a central reason for the county’s poor financial state, Szalay said in May. Since then, the county’s revenues from property, sales and motor vehicle taxes have dropped by more than $100 million, he added.

State budget cuts have also hurt the county, according to Szalay.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

County to confront $90 million gap

2011-05-28T01:15:16Z

The proposed budget Sacramento County released Friday calls for major cuts to close a $90 million gap.

At least 320 employee positions are proposed for cuts. It’s unclear how many of these position cuts may translate to layoffs.

Interim County Executive Officer Steven Szalay’s proposed budget serves as a series of suggestions to the Board of Supervisors, which will hold votes and make decisions on the budget.

“Approval of this recommended budget, with unavoidable reductions, is an important step to continue recovery from our fiscal crisis and will improve the budget picture for next year and beyond,” Szalay wrote in a document dated for the Board of Supervisors’ June 6 budget hearing.

According to Szalay’s document, the 320 positions figure does not include positions in the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department and the District Attorney’s office. There may be additional positions cut from those departments.

The budget documents are now online.

Read Szalay’s letter to the Board of Supervisors on the budget here.

Budget hearings start June 6 at the Sacramento County Administration Building, 700 H St.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Gay community forms redistricting group

2011-03-17T01:10:57Z

Gay leaders in Sacramento are organizing an effort for their community to be considered in the city’s redistricting process.

The gay community has formed a redistricting committee through the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce’s foundation.

Rosanna Herber, chair of the new committee, said the center of the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is in Midtown and downtown.

“We would like to see those areas in one district,” Herber said.

The LGBT population wants to be considered a “community of interest,” which is one of the elements the City Council will use to redesign its districts, Herber said.

Steve Hansen, a member of the city’s advisory redistricting committee who is also active in the gay community’s redistricting effort, said the LGBT vote is now split between three City Council districts in the city’s urban core. Because three council districts represent the area, the gay community’s vote is weakened, he said.

“And we’ve never had a LGBT official on the City Council or on the County Board of Supervisors. Our electoral power has been diluted,” he said.

Specific numbers on how many people identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender in the city are unclear at this point.

The group is using statistics from city voters’ positions on Proposition 8 to show that LGBT community members and supporters are concentrated in the city’s urban core, Hansen said.

In the 2010 U.S. Census, people had the option of filling out information on whether they are married to or living with a same-sex partner.

The data on same-sex couples is expected to be released later this year or early next year, according to Hansen.

Scot Mende, the city’s new growth manager, confirmed that the city has not yet received any Census data on same-sex couples.

If the data is released after September, it may not assist the gay community’s effort with the redistricting process, as the city must complete the process by September, according to the city charter.

Mende said the city doesn’t have Census data to back up a strict geographic boundary for the LGBT community. Still, the city is open to the idea of an LGBT community of interest, he said.

“We are open to anecdotal evidence if someone can explain reasonably well where that community resides,” he said.

View the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber Redistricting Committee's map of Proposition 8 votes in Sacramento County:

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Serna Sworn into County Supervisor Seat

2010-12-15T02:37:38Z

Phil Serna, wife Roxanna, niece and nephews Clara Rivera, Emilio Mayorga, Andres Mayorga and Ricky Rivera, applaud after he was sworn in by Sacramento attorney Tina Thomas today in the room of the Board of County Supervisors. The room was filled.

Serna presented flowers to Roxanna and thanking for her support.

Serna and his extended family grouped together for photos at ceremony's end.

Serna beat two contenders vying for Roger Dickinson's vacant seat: Grantland Johnson and Keith Weber.

For more information about Serna, CLICK HERE>>> and HERE>>>

SacPress Photos | Kati Garner

Old Soul in the airport

2010-10-27T00:57:15Z

Sacramento International Airport’s Terminal B will welcome Starbuck’s, Peet’s and yes, Old Soul Co.

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors announced its final decision Tuesday and Old Soul Co. co-owner Jason Griest couldn’t be happier.

“We feel great about it,” he said. “We’ve had some really, really productive talks in the last two or three weeks, and we feel like it’s an honor to be part of something that’s going to be so big for Sacramento and the region. We’re really excited about it.”

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors amended its previous vote in order to accept the agreement between Old Soul Co. and SSP, a company that owns and operates food concessions at airports, which gives Old Soul a prime location in airport Terminal B.

The coffeehouse will be located in the pre-security section of the land side of Terminal B, allowing access to all 6 million projected people frequenting the airport, according to Griest.

There was already an agreement between SSP and Old Soul as of three weeks ago, but the board still needed to give its recommendations and fine-tune the details.

“We had to make sure it was on the terms of something Old Soul wanted to do,” Griest said. “Something nice, and a fair representation of our brand the way we wanted it to be.”

With a space covering more than 1,000 square feet, this coffee shop is no kiosk. It’s the real deal.

“It’s probably one of, if not the nicest, coffeehouses you’re ever going to see,” said Old Soul Co. co-owner Tim Jordan. “We’re going to work out some really creative and innovative structures to make it a unique experience.”

Hardy Acree, director of airports for the Sacramento County Airport System, said he is pleased to support SSP in making Old Soul a part of the team.

“I think it adds the flavor of the Sacramento Airport that we’re looking for,” he said. “It’s going to reinforce that sense of place we’re trying to accomplish, so overall it’s definitely a good thing.”

The board reassured the airport representatives that there will be no financial ramifications for the induction of Old Soul as opposed to another commercial coffee company.

Construction will begin late next spring on the long-anticipated development of Sacramento’s local Old Soul Coffee Co. in the Sacramento International Airport projected to open Nov. 16, 2011.

Photo courtesy of Old Soul Co. website.

Old Soul still has a chance

2010-10-06T23:38:02Z

Tuesday afternoon, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to approve the panel-recommended food vendors for the Sacramento International Airport’s new Terminal B. Although Old Soul Co. coffeehouse was not in the panel’s recommendations, the chain might still have a chance.

SSP is a company that owns and operates franchise food and concessions at airports. The board agreed to approve SSP’s recommended “Package 1” vendors (which include Peet’s Coffee & Tea and Starbucks) under the condition that SSP staff go into talks with Old Soul and see if they can come up with some agreement in the next three weeks on whether Old Soul will be in the lineup of restaurants.

The decision came after Old Soul owners started a petition to occupy one of three coffeehouse spots in the new terminal and collected more than 1,200 online signatures.

“We’re really happy with what came out of the meeting,” Old Soul co-owner Jason Griest said. “We’ll be a lot happier in three weeks when we have a final agreement and final decision to be recommended and voted into the airport. We do think it was a hard decision, and we think the airport staff and SSP and the board of supervisors did get it right.”

Griest and Old Soul supporters are sticking to their guns and insisting that there needs to be a local coffee place in Sacramento’s airport and are happy to be given the opportunity to provide it.

Justin Fanslau came to support Old Soul and said he is glad that it still has a chance.

“I think the board made a good decision to pause, because I think Old Soul is a valid option there,” Fanslau said. “I’m skeptical now because I know now that this company has a dozen and a half lobbyists, and the folks from Old Soul are going to have to work every day for the next three weeks to make something happen.

“To me, it sounded like a way to appease us, us being the Old Soul supporters, but I think their decision was good because we have a chance now.”

But Fanslau wasn’t alone. About 35 other people showed up to support Old Soul, and their numbers were balanced by those who showed up to support other businesses included in Package 1 and the airport labor force.

Executive Secretary of Sacramento Central Labor Council Bill Camp said he thought the board worked hard, listened and worked through the complexities of the matter. He, too, was happy with the decision.

Board Chairman Roger Dickinson, representing District 1, is all in favor of supporting local business but said he wants to be careful in making this decision.

“I think we all have an interest in trying to promote local business, so at least the idea of having Old Soul, which is clearly a locally based business, included in the airport, along with Peet’s, which has grown to be bigger than just Sacramento, has some appeal,” Dickinson said. “But I think at the same time we want to be careful not to upset the balance that was struck in the entirety of the recommendations that were made. It looks to me as if it will be incumbent on SSP and Old Soul coming to some sort of an arrangement before we could instigate some kind of change.”

Board Member Don Nottoli, who represents District 5, said he is happy to promote the addition of local flavor into the airport’s Terminal B and awaits the recommended amendment to Package 1.

“What we did today, in light of SSP and the airport staff’s willingness to accommodate the consideration of Old Soul, was in the board’s desire based upon Old Soul’s strong reputation and business plan. There’s obviously a lot of support and community here, so hopefully in three weeks we’ll see a recommendation that will bring that local flavor back into the mix.”

The Board will revisit this issue on Oct. 26 at 2:15 p.m. at 700 H St.

Q&A with Safe Ground's Tracie Rice-Bailey

2010-10-01T23:29:32Z

If you attend the weekly Sacramento City Council meetings, you’re likely to see an activist with colorful clothing address city leaders on homeless issues.

Tracie Rice-Bailey, 57, has appeared at Tuesday night council meetings so frequently in the last year that she has become a familiar face at City Hall.

For more than a year, Rice-Bailey and other advocates for the homeless have lobbied council members for a legal camping ground for the area’s homeless.

Rice-Bailey is a vocal member of the advocacy group that calls itself Safe Ground Sacramento. The group wants the city to reserve a space for homeless people where the city’s camping ban would not apply.

Rice-Bailey, who said she was homeless for 12 years and now lives downtown, often intersperses her short speeches at City Hall with quotations from the Bible. She also has a distinctive style: She is instantly recognizable because of her 1960s-era necklaces and beaded headband.

The Sacramento Press sat down with Rice-Bailey at Loaves & Fishes recently to talk to her about her role with the Safe Ground campaign. In her responses, she referred to “Tent City,” the homeless campground in Sacramento that attracted major media attention last year.

The Sacramento Press: How did you become involved with the Safe Ground issue?

Rice-Bailey: I was trying to get John Kraintz (current Safe Ground president) to work with me because I wanted someone else to roll with ... and he flipped me to work with the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee. And out of SHOC, Safe Ground was born.

SP: So, SHOC was first, and then Safe Ground came after that.

TRB: Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee has been here for years. And that is our mother. We were at a SHOC meeting actually trying to figure out what to do with the people from Tent City because everyone was being displaced.

John had to go to the bathroom, and everyone was jamming John up, (asking): “What are we going to call it? What are we going to do? Where are we going to go?”

And John’s going, “Man, I just need safe ground!”

Hence our name.

It became Safe Ground from that second on. That’s what we all need: We all need safe ground.

SP: Safe Ground has been around for —

TRB: July 1, 2009 was our maiden march and our maiden camp-out. We camped across from the water treatment plant. And from there we went by the mission on Bannon Street. From there, we went to what we call the “field of dreams.”

From there, we went to Mark Merin’s property on 13th Street — and everybody knows about that.

And now, we’re out in the woods hiding again.

SP: Field of dreams? What is that?

TRB: That’s the North 10th property. We call it the field of dreams because when you have nothing, it’s a dream to even have a field.

SP: That’s an empty property?

TRB: It’s an empty property with trees on it, which makes it a dream in itself. The tent city by campers was not called “Tent City.” It was called “The Wasteland” or “The Badlands” because there’s no trees. There’s no shelter. There’s nothing to shelter you from the sun.

SP: Safe Ground advocates have been lobbying the City Council for more than a year. How optimistic do you feel about a Safe Ground site being set up?

TRB: I think they really have no choice. There is no budget. Nobody has a budget ... If they would just give us a moratorium (on the camping ban). And I’m not saying (that we should) sleep on K Street or J Street, which people do right now anyway. But give us a place to be, and let us be self-governing. Let us take it from there.

SP: Are Safe Ground advocates taking their cause to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors?

TRB: We’ve made one visit there. We’ve been talking about that as something we’re going to have to start doing. The reason we’ve gone to the city so hard is that the city has the ordinance, and the city has the ability to change that ordinance. They can sign a paper and give us a moratorium ... The county does all the homeless services. But now they’re cutting all of them. So, we’ve got to go there.

SP: I’ve heard you quote the Bible in your comments at City Hall. I’ve heard you speak many times. How do your personal religious views relate to your advocacy for a Safe Ground site?

TRB: We are our brother’s keeper. How the hell are you going to say I’m my brother’s keeper and not try to find him a place to be? You can’t. It’s not acceptable behavior. We’re here to learn to love each other. If we can’t figure out how to get along here, there is nothing left for us later.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Old Soul Co. petitions for airport slot

2010-10-01T00:45:16Z

The Old Soul Co. coffeehouse chain isn’t on the list of recommended vendors for the Sacramento International Airport’s new Terminal B, but company owners are hurriedly gathering signatures on a petition to put before the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors at their meeting Tuesday.

At that meeting, the board will make its final decision on which companies will provide food and beverage concessions at the terminal, and Old Soul Co. co-owner Tim Jordan said he hopes to be included.

“This is a decade-long contract,” Jordan said. “We feel like our bid was very strong, and we’re the locally owned choice at that.”

In the terminal plans, three spaces are going to be used for coffeehouses, Jordan said. Two companies – Starbuck’s and Peet’s Coffee & Tea – will fill them.

The selection was made by a panel composed of Sacramento International Airport officials, officials from airports in Oakland and San Francisco, and representatives from the private sector, according to District 1 Supervisor Roger Dickinson.

Dickinson said the panel was directed by the county to include a number of considerations when making its selections.

“One of those was to have a good representation of local restaurants and businesses, and another, of course, is to try to achieve as much revenue as possible,” Dickinson said.

Bids submitted to the panel were a combination of individual restaurants and packages from corporate groups. Old Soul Co. was part of a group bid that was not selected, according to Dickinson.

“I assume what the board will try to do (on Tuesday) is take a look at whether the process was handled fairly and appropriately, and how well the recommendation to the board satisfies and meets the objectives,” Dickinson said.

Jordan said Old Soul Co. is not attacking the process.

“We’re not saying they got it dead-wrong,” Jordan said. “This one piece, though, there’s a better choice – a better overall decision that the airport can come to.”

He added that Old Soul Co. is not looking to monopolize all three locations, but to move into one of the spots.

The online petition to the board was launched Tuesday and had generated more than 700 signatures by Thursday afternoon.

Both Dickinson and District 5 Supervisor Don Nottoli said they had received numerous e-mails and phone calls about the makeup of airport concessions.

“It’s important that we do hear from the people,” Nottoli said.

The panel’s recommendation does contain “a certain amount of weight,” according to Dickinson, but both he and Nottoli said the ultimate decision rests in the hands of the board.

Nottoli said Old Soul Co. was “in the running to begin with” and had a strong bid meeting the qualifications.

Both Nottoli and Dickinson said substituting one vendor for another could have consequences on the recommended group bid, but neither could elaborate before Tuesday’s public hearing.

“We’ll hear from both sides,” Nottoli said. “This is far from final.”

Jordan said he thinks his Old Soul Co. can help Sacramento distinguish itself as an airport with a unique set of food vendors that millions of passengers will pass through each year.

“Do we want to look like any other airport or reach for the highest, noblest version?” he asked. “It’s powerful, it’s a big deal, and we want to get this as right as we can.”

In addition to the petition, Old Soul Co. is hosting a rally from 6-9 p.m. Friday at its coffeehouse at 3434 Broadway in Oak Park.

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors public hearing is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. Tuesday at the board’s chambers at 700 H St. in room 1450 on the first floor.

Photo of Old Soul Co. in Oak Park by Ed Fogle.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

County budget troubles spur new idea for homeless program

2010-09-14T03:58:12Z

Sacramento County’s budget woes are prompting county and city staffers and local groups to consider establishing a new nonprofit organization to address homelessness.

A new agency could lift some of the county’s burden to manage regional homelessness efforts, according to a recently released report from the county’s Department of Human Assistance.

After February 2011, DHA will not have enough funding to continue its homelessness program, according to the department’s report.

The county is running low on general fund dollars for the program, said Derrick Lim, a manager with the city’s Neighborhood Services division who is working on the issue at the city level.

“That’s why the situation is so dire,” Lim said.

The Sacramento City Council and the county Board of Supervisors are discussing the idea of a nonprofit organization in separate meetings on Tuesday.

The start date for the nonprofit could be June 2011, according to the DHA report. Money will need to be found for the nonprofit, the report said.

The nonprofit would do more than provide an alternative to the county’s current homelessness program. It would also help organize the region’s numerous homeless efforts, the DHA report said.

There are dozens of groups involved with homelessness issues in the region. A report that will be discussed by the City Council on Tuesday noted that 30 agencies were represented at DHA meetings on homelessness in May and June.

The county would continue to be a partner in regional homelessness efforts, said Kerri Aiello, spokeswoman for the Countywide Services Agency.

Read the report from DHA here.

Learn about the City Council’s role in this issue here.

Photo by Brandon Darnell. People rest at Loaves and Fishes.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Sheriff: Layoffs could wipe out patrol efforts

2010-06-15T05:21:54Z

Expressing outrage during Monday's county budget hearings, Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness told the Board of Supervisors he did not believe public safety is its top priority.

“We're dealing with this challenge that we cannot take ... (and) the public can’t take it,” McGinness said.

Board members plan to wrap up work this week on a budget with a $181 million deficit. County administrators say they have found ways to restore $59 million to the budget, but that would still leave a $122 million gap.

McGinness told the board that county officials are asking him to cut $37.6 million. To make those cuts, he said he would need to lay off as many as 255 deputies, including all the deputies currently working on patrol. The county currently has 226 deputies on patrol, according to McGinness’ presentation. Another idea would be to shutter the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center, he said. With the "wholesale release of inmates" from prison, the department could scale back its staffing, according to the presentation.

“We would have to do more than close and eliminate the River Cosumnes Correctional Center or eliminate virtually all of patrol,” McGinness said.

The board may approve the budget for the 2010/2011 fiscal year later this week, according to the county’s schedule of budget hearings. To address the deficit, county staffers are planning to lay off 725 employees in July.

That figure for layoffs does not include those that McGinness may make at the sheriff’s department.

Supervisor Jimmie Yee told McGinness that public safety was the board’s first priority. McGinness responded that he has “heard those words,” but he disagrees with Yee’s comment.

McGinness’s challenge to Yee’s comment received applause from law enforcement supporters in the audience.

Roger Berkenpas of the West Fair Oaks Neighborhood Watch Association was among others who spoke against further cuts to the sheriff’s department. The department lost many essential services that affected neighbors last year, he said. A new park is being vandalized nightly, he said. “We can’t get patrol out there."

Meanwhile, Sacramento County Chief Deputy District Attorney Cindy Besemer told the board the District Attorney’s office would need to lay off 50 employees, including 11 attorneys, to meet the requirements in the draft budget.

Budget cuts would also hurt the county’s Correctional Health Services Department, said AnnMarie Boylan, the department’s director. She said cuts to the department would cause a continual waiting list of 400 patients.

The budget hearings cover many departments. The Sacramento Press will link to the video of Monday's budget hearings as soon as the county makes it available online.

Tuesday, June 15:
The meeting will start at 2 p.m. and cover cuts to the county’s Medically Indigent Services Program, Health and Human Services and Human Assistance.

Wednesday, June 16:
The meeting will start at 2 p.m. and include discussions on the In-Home Support Services Public Authority, Retiree Health and the Transient Occupancy Tax.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Animal lovers speak out for the Sacramento County shelter

2010-06-15T02:04:36Z

With megaphone in hand, Jennifer Fearing of the Humane Society of the United States led a crowd of over 50 animal lovers in chanting “No more cuts, save our pets!”

Fearing facilitated the rally Monday for the Sacramento County animal shelter, who positioned themselves on the steps of the Sacramento County Administration building to raise awareness about the cuts the shelter faces. Participants dressed in red with the message of “stop the bleeding.”

Amy McMullan encouraged members of her group of pit bull owners, called Sacramento Responsible Pit Bull Lovers, to come to support the shelter. The group has about 400 members, with about 15 in attendance at the rally.

“Pit bulls aren’t just the bane of the shelter, they’re actually owned family pets,” McMullan said. “We’re really trying to keep the dogs out of the shelter system, since the shelter is so overrun. We feel like we can create more foster families around Sacramento.”

The group has worked in the past with the Bad Rap pit bull organization in San Francisco (http://www.badrap.org) and hopes to reach non-profit status in the future.

“We’re really just trying to help refurbish the image of the breed and work with all kinds of demographics to bond together and have better recognition of what a pit bull is,” McMullan said.

The group did a vaccine clinic in Oak Park on Sunday and handed out free spay and neuter vouchers.

“Bad Rap said we handed out more spay and neuter vouchers yesterday than they’ve almost ever seen at a vaccine clinic,” she said.

Carrie Fleig from the group was there with the pit bull she adopted from the shelter to show her support.

“We know that a majority of the dogs at the shelters are pit bulls,” Fleig said. “If the shelter goes down, it’ll affect pit bulls the most.”

“We are the only voice the animals have,” Fearing said. “We have to make them realize that we need more time to find solutions, that right now is not the time to cut this. Allow us another year to find more solutions.”

Fearing stressed the importance for the community, including the Sacramento SPCA and the HSUS to unite in discovering how the budget problems of the shelter can be solved.

As the Capital of the most animal-friendly state in the country, the county has one of the largest spay days in the country, according to Fearing.

“It makes no sense to me that this county would make these kinds of choices and relegate us to the bottom of the pile,” she said. “When it comes to animal care, we belong at the top.”

Right now, the shelter is one of the largest in California, housing about 15,000 animals a year.

Celeste Ingrid, volunteer coordinator for the Sacramento County shelter, gave a short talk to the concerned citizens about the problems that the shelter currently faces.

“We’ve gone through about two years of budget cuts,” she said. “We’ve lost 44 percent of our staff and we’re looking at losing about six people soon, which brings us down to two animal care attendants and six officers to care for more than 15,000 animals a year."

The cuts only make up an eighth of a percent to the overall budget.

“That .08 percent doesn’t mean a lot to the county, but those six positions mean a lot to the shelter,” Fearing said.

Ingrid hopes the board will restore some funding to the shelter but acknowledged that many other departments in the county are fighting for the same money.

“There are a lot of very viable departments that we need that are looking for the same dollars, so the board of directors has some very difficult decisions to make this week,” she said. “It’s a big juggling game with a pot of money. Unfortunately, the pot of money is very small.”

The shelter will host a community engagement meeting on Tuesday evening, Fearing said.

“We’re going to start the first meeting by dreaming of what animal care would look like in Sacramento if we didn’t have the rules that we have and if we had unlimited resources,” Fearing said. “We want to just free our minds from some of the limitations and try to imagine what we might do and then figure out a way, as we go forward over the next six months, how to map that to reality and end up some place a whole lot better.”

For more information on the Sacramento County shelter, please visit saccountyshelter.net or sacanimalshelter.org.

County budget hearings next week, 725 planned layoffs

2010-06-11T02:35:29Z

Sacramento County officials plan to lay off 725 employees in response to the county’s budget hole.

The Board of Supervisors will discuss the county’s $181 million gap and planned layoffs at budget hearings next week. Board members may approve the budget for the 2010/2011 fiscal year next Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, according to the county’s schedule of budget hearings.

The proposed budget figures released by officials Thursday include major cuts to programs as well as the planned layoffs.

Interim County Executive Steve Szalay said at a Thursday morning press conference that the proposed budget was the third consecutive county budget containing deep cuts.

“This is a sad day in the history of Sacramento County,” he said.

If the board approves the layoffs, they would go into effect July 3, Szalay said.

The Sacramento Press will post the proposed budget as soon as it is available online.

Here is the schedule for next week’s budget hearings:

Monday, June 14:

The meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. Departments and programs that will be discussed include Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, Correctional Health Services, District Attorney, Probation, Public Defender, Engineering, Planning, Animal Care, Regional Parks, Finance, General Services and Personnel.

Tuesday, June 15:

The meeting will start at 2 p.m. and cover cuts to the county’s Medically Indigent Services Program, Health and Human Services and Human Assistance.

Wednesday, June 16:

The meeting will start at 2 p.m. and include discussions on the In-Home Support Services Public Authority, Retiree Health and the Transient Occupancy Tax.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Waiting game: Dickinson, McCarty divided by 33 votes in Assembly race

2010-06-10T02:34:34Z

Thirty-three votes divide the two local politicians fighting for a state Assembly seat in the Democratic primary.

Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson currently has a tiny lead of 33 votes over City Councilman Kevin McCarty in the race for the District 9 Assembly seat.

Dickinson has 35.05 percent of the vote, while McCarty has 34.93 percent. With all precincts reporting, McCarty had 9,634 votes to Dickinson’s 9,667.

Jill LaVine, Sacramento County’s top election official, estimated that more than 86,000 remaining ballots still need to be counted. That total is comprised of unprocessed ballots that came to the elections office before Tuesday night, vote-by-mail ballots delivered to polls, and ballots that need to be studied further, according to a news release from the elections office.

The competitor who will run in the general election will be the one with the most votes.

“It can come down to one vote,” said Shannan Velayas, spokeswoman for the California Secretary of State’s office.

Gabriel Medina, campaign manager for Dickinson, said that the supervisor’s supporters were “cautiously optimistic.” Dickinson’s campaign was pleased with the vote tally, Medina said, and supporters celebrated late into the night on Wednesday.

McCarty also has an upbeat attitude about the contest.

“I’m feeling good,” McCarty said Wednesday afternoon. “I think we ran a very strong campaign. We ran a really positive campaign.”

After the precincts were reported, City Councilwoman and Assembly candidate Lauren Hammond was in third place with 18.8 percent of the District 9 vote.

The district includes most of the city of Sacramento.

Hammond’s City Council seat was up for grabs in this election cycle. She did not run in the City Council election. There will likely be a runoff between candidates Jay Schenirer and Patrick Kennedy for Hammond’s seat, Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno said Wednesday morning.

The city staggers the years of its City Council races: McCarty’s City Council seat was not part of the June election.

Wendy Klock-Johnson of the Sacramento City Clerk’s office said Tuesday that if McCarty wins the Assembly seat in both the primary election and the November general election, the city will need to hold a special election for his City Council seat.

Photos by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

The Big Build at Sacramento International Airport

2010-04-27T20:03:52Z

A United Airlines passenger jet makes a landing yesterday just to the west of the new expansion project, The Big Build, at Sacramento International Airport.

According to a press release, The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) awarded an $8.6 million Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grant to Sacramento International Airport the first week of April. It is the second installment in the seven year $59 million FAA Letter of Intent (LOI) funding program for the Big Build at Sacramento. AIP funds support construction of terminal aprons, taxiways and overnight aircraft parking for the Big Build project.

“On a project as large as the Big Build, funding is a critical piece of the overall program and the support of the Federal government is very important, “said Roger Dickinson, Chairman of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. “Every dollar of grant money helps reduce the amount of bond funding we have to borrow and helps us complete the project on time and on budget.”

The Big Build is designed to meet current and future air travel demands by replacing the outdated Terminal B with a 669,000 square foot multi-story terminal. The new Central Terminal B will offer 19 aircraft gates, a two-level roadway system, 42,000 square feet of concessions space, an international arrivals facility and an automated people mover. The airside construction projects supported by the AIP grants are necessary to facilitate movement of aircraft around the new terminal.

“One of our goals for this project is to create an even more efficient airfield,” said Interim Sacramento County Executive Steven Szalay, “and the aprons and taxiway funded by this grant will help us achieve that goal.”

The Letter of Intent program is designed to provide annual grants over a seven-year period concluding in fiscal year 2015.
Sacramento County Airport System is responsible for planning, developing, operating and maintaining the county’s four airports: Sacramento International Airport, Executive Airport, Mather Airport and Franklin Field.

The Big Build Facts:

    •    Approximately 1 million labor hours have been spent on the Big Build. That equals $38.6 million in straight wages for the people working on the project.
    •    Over the course of the Big Build, approximately 2400 jobs will be created
    •    On any given day, about 400 people are working directly on site
    •    The total economic impact for the Big Build construction project is approximately $2 billion
    •    By the year 2020, the new terminal will produce $2.6 billion in economic impact and 16,500 jobs annually

Since construction began on the Landside project: 13,750 truckloads of dirt were excavated to form the basement for this new terminal. 5.1 million pounds of rebar have been used, 32,565 cubic yards of concrete have been poured, 609 piles have been driven, and 5000 tons of steel have been erected.

Also see: www.sacramentopress.com/headline/25728/Sacramento_International_Road_Closure_Returns

For more information on the system, visit www.sacairports.org.

SacPress Photo | Kati Garner

The scoop on January public meetings

2009-12-24T18:06:51Z

It’s the end of December — a time for holiday celebrations, not public hearings.

But the democratic process begins anew in early January, with many issues to be debated at local government meetings.

The Sacramento Press has created the following schedule for residents who want to exercise their right to weigh in on public issues.

Sacramento City Council: The council is not meeting Dec. 29. Its first meeting in the new year will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 5 at City Hall, 915 I St.

Sacramento County Board of Supervisors: The board’s first meeting of 2010 will take place at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 12. A second 2 p.m. meeting will be held Jan. 12.

Sacramento City Planning Commission: The Planning Commission will meet at 5:30 p.m on Thursday, Jan. 14 at City Hall, 915 I St.

For Art’s Sake (Mayor Kevin Johnson’s arts group): The group asks participants to RSVP for the meeting at the following e-mail address: sharongerber@sixdegreez.net The meeting will be held from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Jan. 27 at the California State Railroad Museum, 125 I St. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m.

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Supervisors nix plan to cut employee work hours

2009-10-21T05:27:19Z

A highly controversial plan from county executives to shorten the work schedules of about 7,000 union-represented employees failed Tuesday when the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors voted it down.

Instead of adopting the contentious plan, which union officials had alleged was illegal, the supervisors decided to lay off 76 employees.

However, the 76 layoffs are not set in stone — the county is allowing room to lower that number through more negotiations with unions.

Sacramento County, which recently faced a $76-million shortfall, approved its budget earlier this month. More than 700 county employees have been laid off since July, according to county spokesman Zeke Holst. County officials cite the poor economy as the reason it is in a financial crisis.

Steve Keil, the county’s labor relations director, told The Sacramento Press outside the meeting that the 76 planned layoffs could change depending on the possibility of new concessions from unions.

“If we can get additional concessions, we will either not lay those people off or restore them after we lay them off,” Keil said.

The proposal rejected by the board would have cut 16 hours per month from employees represented by unions, according to county documents.

Ted Somera, executive director of United Public Employees Local 1, said he was frustrated with the day’s events. The union had fought against the plan to shorten work schedules.

With the controversial work hours plan no longer in the picture, the union will now negotiate with the county to lower numbers of layoffs, Somera said. The union wanted to negotiate about layoffs, but had to fight the work hours plan first, he noted.

“I’m frustrated because we’re back at ‘Square 1,’ ” Somera told The Sacramento Press.

All five supervisors spoke out against the proposal to shorten work schedules, which was formally called the “.908 plan.” Supervisor Jimmie Yee called it “a bad idea.”

The plan would have resulted in the county facing grievances and legal actions “with no certainty of the outcome,” said Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan.

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Deputy Sheriff's Association: Budget cuts hurt response times

2009-10-09T01:37:27Z

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 Sheriff’s Association.

To pare down its budget to make the $987,000 in cuts, the department will need to create four more deputy vacancies, Mickelson said. The vacancies will be achieved through attrition. This means that when four deputies retire, resign or are terminated, the department will keep four open deputy positions, he explained.

Right now, the department has six deputy vacancies and one sheriff’s security officer vacancy, he said, noting that he additional four vacancies would create a total of 10 vacant deputy positions. The vacancies would bring down the number of deputies to 231 from 241, Mickelson said.

The department’s response time to critical calls will become longer as a result of the vacancies, Mickelson said. “There’s no way two ways about it,” he added.

Mickelson blamed the Board of Supervisors for making cuts to the Sheriff’s Department while providing funding to programs that cover the arts and the American River Parkway. “At some point in time, the Board of Supervisors needs to make public safety their No. 1 obligation,” Mickelson told The Sacramento Press.

The Board of Supervisors uses a list of priorities when it makes budget decisions. Law enforcement is the board’s first priority after it addresses mandated services and its debts, according to county documents.

Mickelson questions whether the board is truly making public safety its first priority.

But county officials view the issue differently.

Responding to Mickelson’s criticism, county spokesman Zeke Holst noted that the Board of Supervisors restored funding to the Sheriff’s Department in June. “At [the] proposed budget in June, the Board of Supervisors approved the restoration of $12.5 million to the Sheriff’s Department budget. Also, at this time, the board approved the concessions from the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of $10.6 million.”

Holst also pointed out that the supervisors made another restoration, of nearly $2 million, to the Sheriff’s Department on Oct. 2.

Betsy Braziel, a county communications officer, wrote in an Oct. 2 press release: “Board members reinforced their commitment to making public safety and protection of children their highest spending priorities.”

While the board restored funding to Child Protective Services, it also approved 186 layoffs to that agency.

Sacramento County needed to make its most recent $987,000 cut to the Sheriff’s Department because the county lost revenues from sales taxes that are collected statewide and then doled out to local governments for public safety purposes, County Executive Terry Schutten said last month.

During recent budget hearings Supervisor Jimmie Yee expressed concern for cuts to county social services while saying that the board has been supporting law enforcement with funding.

Yee addressed Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Mark Iwasa on the issue of funding during a Sept. 16 hearing. “I just want you to be aware that, hey, we’re struggling to find funds to keep you whole. But at the same, we have to look at the broad picture of the county, too.”

Yee added that the Sheriff’s Department is “not the only thing here.”

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

County approves budget, severe cuts include child services

2009-10-03T03:02:11Z

Severe budget cuts to Sacramento County programs and controversial layoffs for 186 employees in the Child Protective Services unit are part of the 2009/2010 fiscal year budget that was approved by the Board of Supervisors Friday. The county, which had faced an immense budget gap of $76 million, laid off 300 workers last month.

The total budget the supervisors approved is $4.2 billion. Around $1.9 billion of that total is the county’s general fund. More than 700 county employees have been laid off since July.

CPS has faced criticism from the county’s grand jury and MGT of America, Inc., a management consulting firm, over child fatalities. Ann Edwards-Buckley, director of the county’s Department of Health and Human Services, told The Sacramento Press outside the meeting that the cuts to CPS will harm children’s safety.

“As I've said before, I’m concerned about the welfare and safety of children in our community — that we won’t be able to do the same kinds of things that we’ve been able to do in the past,” Edwards-Buckley said. “So, kids may stay longer in foster care, waiting for family reunification. They may stay longer in an unsafe home.”

The entire budget was approved by four of the five supervisors.

Supervisor Roger Dickinson voted against significant parts of the budget including the general fund, saying the cuts harm the community. “I think this budget does not adequately consider our fiscal circumstances, either currently or for the future,” Dickinson said.

Approval of this budget means that the county would need to make deeper cuts in the upcoming years and “decimates” the county’s ability to protect important segments of the community, he said.

Dickinson is running for Assemblyman Dave Jones’ seat in 2010 against two current members of the Sacramento City Council, Lauren Hammond and Kevin McCarty.

The county’s contentious plan to shorten work schedules for about 7,000 employees represented by unions is still unresolved. The approved budget says that the the plan will go into effect if the supervisors do not pass a different plan on Oct. 20.

Dickinson voted against the proposal for shortened work schedules. “I’m not willing to be on record supporting that,” he said.

Photo of Roger Dickinson by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Physicians, advocates concerned about planned county health cuts

2009-10-02T03:39:19Z

Health advocates and physicians made last-minute comments on Thursday opposing planned cuts to county public health programs. The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, which faces a $76 million budget gap, is expected to approve a budget Friday with major cuts to programs.

The board’s final budget hearing for the 2009/2010 fiscal year will start at 1:30 p.m. Friday. The meeting is open to the public and will be held at 700 H St. Earlier this month, the board approved layoffs for 300 county employees.

Zachary Hold, a primary-care physician, said additional proposed cuts to public health would lead to patient deaths. The cuts would also increase the amount of time patients would wait to see a medical professional, he said, pointing out that the wait times are already lengthy. Hold works as a physician part-time for the county in addition to his employment with the University of California, Davis. He noted that he was not speaking on behalf of UC Davis.

“I recently took care of a woman at the evening clinic who sounds like she’s been having little heart attacks for about two or three weeks,” Hold said. “And I wonder if she had gotten access in a more timely fashion -- three or four months ago even -- we would have been able to prevent her admission to Sutter, which is where she is right now.”

“There will be more deaths as a result of more cuts to the health system,” Hold noted.

Joseph Iser, director and public health officer of the Yolo County Department of Health, also raised concerns about the planned cuts. He said that proposed cuts to Sacramento County’s communicable disease program and public health laboratory would harm public health in nearby counties. Addressing the supervisors, he said that if the county is not able to administer tests to diagnose diseases or track foodborne illnesses, “you directly impact the health in your surrounding counties too.”

Photo credit: Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

County: New budget gap on top of $68 million shortfall

2009-09-17T03:15:43Z

On top of its current $68 million shortfall, Sacramento County has a new $8.1 million budget gap from falling sales tax revenues, Sacramento County officials told the Board of Supervisors Wednesday.

The new budget gap means that layoffs — in addition to the 382 currently proposed — are a definite possibility, which is unfortunate, said County Executive Terry Schutten in response to a question from The Sacramento Press.

The Board of Supervisors was scheduled to make final decisions today to balance its 2009/2010 budget. However, the situation changed in light of new information that the county’s sales tax revenues are plummeting again. The board now plans to make its final budget decisions on Tuesday.

Planned budget cuts include the 382 layoffs and shortened work schedules for about 7,000 employees, according to the most recently updated information available Wednesday from county spokesman Zeke Holst.

Schutten said that county executives met on Monday and nearly balanced the supervisors’ final budget priorities.

“However, at 4:45 p.m. ... on Monday afternoon, our chief operating officer received notification from our tax consultant that, for the last quarter, our sales tax were down 26 percent. And for the entire year-to-year, our drop was approximately 14 percent,” Schutten told the supervisors.

Those figures create a $4.1 million gap, he explained. The county lost another $4 million in revenues from sales taxes that are collected statewide and then delivered to local governments for public safety programs, Schutten said. The loss of the sales tax money that goes to public safety programs will affect the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, Probation Department and District Attorney’s office.

Meanwhile, the vice chair of United Public Employees Local 1 told the supervisors that the union would make concessions on retirement benefits if the county drops its proposal to shorten the work schedules for about 7,000 employees represented by unions.

“As a show of good faith yesterday, UPE is willing to defer the Retiree Health Savings Plan accounts that we have, which potentially saves the county millions of dollars," said Beverly Kearney, vice chair of UPE Local 1. "We’re hoping that this will save jobs and mitigate layoffs.”

But Schutten told The Sacramento Press after the board meeting that UPE’s proposal would not garner the savings the county needs. UPE’s “main concern was the retirement health care account, and that’s for $8 million,” Schutten said. "Of that $8 million, only $1.9 million is local dollars. So it’s not near enough to cover the shortfalls that we have. It was a good suggestion. We certainly appreciate it, and look forward to working with them.”

Photo of Supervisor Roger Dickinson by Kati Garner.

Photo of presentation on sales tax by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

County managers protest suggested budget cut

2009-09-12T01:56:39Z

Sacramento County managers are strongly opposing a suggestion from Sacramento County Supervisor Don Nottoli to cut a benefit that helps employees save money for retirement. A representative from the Sacramento County Management Association (SCMA) told the Board of Supervisors on Friday that managers are making sacrifices to assist the county, and are not being treated fairly.

“We keep hearing by public comment that managers need to take more cuts,” said Sue Elliott, acting president of SCMA. “Yet, we feel we have done our part.”

Elliott made her remarks during the board’s fourth day of final budget hearings. The most recently updated figure for the county’s budget deficit is $68 million. Unions are vehemently protesting the the county’s plan to lay off 350 employees. In addition to the layoffs, the board has said it plans to cut 16 hours per month from the workload of county employees who are represented by unions.

The county's final decisions are expected on Sept. 16.

Elliott told the board that managers’ concessions include furlough days and the elimination of a cost-of-living pay increase. The 2.9 percent cost-of-living raise for managers was cut for the 2009/2010 fiscal year, she said.

Nottoli suggested Thursday that the board consider cutting the deferred compensation benefit for managers. Elliott said the benefit costs about $1.1 million annually, with $335,000 coming out of the general fund.

Elliott said that managers were being treated unfairly by the board, noting that employees represented by the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association and the Sacramento County Probation Association maintained their cost-of-living increases. She acknowledged that sheriff’s deputies and probation employees “put their lives on the line,” but contended there is unequal treatment among employee groups.

Elliott made her remarks the day after the executive director of United Public Employees Local 1 said the county was cutting rank-and-file workers while keeping jobs for officials. “You’re too top-heavy,” Ted Somera said in comments to the board. “You have too many chiefs.”

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

County budget hearing draws big protests; union calls for Schutten to step down

2009-09-11T03:46:01Z

It would be an understatement to use the word “passionate” to describe the emotions of the hundreds of people who gathered in the Board of Supervisors' chambers for Thursday's budget hearing. The word “livid” would best describe the mood of the crowd as elected officials considered making $48 million in cuts to county social services programs.

The supervisors are planning to cut more than 360 positions as they face a new budget gap of more than $54.5 million. In addition to the scores of planned layoffs, the board proposes cutting 16 hours per month from the workload of county employees who are represented by unions. The supervisors will hold another budget meeting tomorrow and are scheduled to decide the final budget on Sept. 16.

Supervisor Susan Peters said the county's finances are being harmed by the recession and state cutbacks. "Unfortunately, today's economic circumstances have not changed — again, due to the national and state economic decline," she said. "That's a cold, hard economic fact. And compounding that are cuts imposed upon us by the state of California."

Ted Somera, executive director of United Public Employees Local 1, told the board that the county was cutting rank-and-file workers while maintaining jobs for many officials.

“You’re too top-heavy,” he said. “You have too many chiefs.” Somera’s union alleges that the county’s plan is illegal.

Somera’s remarks received loud applause from the audience. When protesters of the cuts made their remarks to the board, audience members reacted loudly with applause and cheering. Some even exchanged high-fives.

Outside the doors of the board’s chambers at the County Administration Building, the United Public Employees Local 1 collected signatures from people who support firing County Executive Terry Schutten. The union said it had nearly 600 signatures by Thursday afternoon.

During the morning session, about 250 people filled the supervisors’ chambers. About 320 people attended the afternoon session, filling the chambers and packing into the overflow seating area in the lobby.

Supervisor Don Nottoli suggested the board consider cutting a deferred compensation benefit for managers, adding that he wanted to discuss the idea during budget deliberations. The benefit, which helps employees save for retirement, has a general fund cost of about $390,000 per year, he said.

“As we’re looking at this, I certainly want us to have that conversation,” Nottoli said. “And again, I know there’s sensitivity to it.” The crowd cheered in response to his suggestion.

Also Thursday, Ann Edwards-Buckley, the county’s director of Health and Human Services, delivered dismal news to the board about how the cuts would harm the Child Protective Services (CPS) program. CPS has faced criticism over child fatalities from both the county’s grand jury and MGT of America, Inc., a management consulting firm that reviewed the program.

The $14.9 million in cuts to CPS would create a “weakened infrastructure necessary to provide oversight, accountability and improvement as identified in the MFT and Grand Jury report,” according to Edwards-Buckley's presentation to the board.

Dominic Bobo, a 17-year-old who was in foster care since he was 7-years-old, urged the board not to cut jobs for social workers. At times, “life was just so stressful that sometimes I just wanted to stop,” he said. “But it was my social workers that helped to push me through and keep me going.”

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

County faces heat from health advisory board

2009-09-10T03:15:21Z

The county’s planned budget cuts to local health services drew withering criticism Wednesday from a member of the public health advisory board and public interest attorneys. During the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors’ second day of final budget hearings, critics charged that the cuts were unlawful and decided in a “closed-door” process.

The supervisors are planning more than 360 layoffs and cuts to numerous county programs to address a budget gap in excess of $54.5 million.

Wednesday’s hearing addressed proposed cuts to health services in numerous areas including immunizations, California Children’s Services, Community Health Promotion & Infectious Disease Prevention, Community Disease and STD Control & Epidemiology and Pharmacy and Support Services.

Ann Edwards-Buckley, director of the county’s Department of Health and Human Services, said planned cuts to the California Children’s Services program would affect 300 children. “There will be 300 children per year that won’t receive medically necessary physical or occupational therapy,” Buckley told the Supervisors.

Stephen Goldberg, a staff attorney with Legal Services of Northern California, told the supervisors that proposed cuts were being considered for programs that are mandated by law. “The California Children’s Program is specifically for disabled children,” Goldberg said. “The scope of the CCS program is mandatory.”

Also at Wednesday’s meeting, a member of the Sacramento County Public Health Advisory Board said the advisory board and community health clinics are “terribly disappointed” with the planned cuts. Marty Keale, who represents community clinics on the advisory board, harshly criticized the county’s process of budgeting for public health.

“From start to finish, that process has been dominated by closed-door decision-making, based largely on rushed, narrowly defined data collection and analysis,” he said. "And now we all face the mess that’s being presented to you today.”

Nav Gill, the county’s chief operations officer, disagreed. “From our side, it’s still a very collaborative process,” he said. Many of the proposed cuts are based on recommendations from county staffers, he said.

Jim Hunt, the acting director of the Countywide Services Agency, also responded to Keale’s comments. Hunt said that he and Buckley have been active participants in the Sacramento Healthcare Improvement Project. They have pushed the agenda of how the county “should reshape healthcare delivery for the Medi-Cal and population and uninsured in Sacramento County,” Hunt said.

Keale said his complaint did not concern that project. “Our issue has been with the budget process — strictly the budget process,” Keale said.

Supervisor Roger Dickinson said reform is needed to address the county’s problems with its public health programs. “This hearing to me just punctuates the point that we have an unsustainable scheme at this point — and a barely rational one as well — that requires systemic reformation.”

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Psychiatric services at county jail proposed for cuts

2009-09-09T04:55:25Z

The county’s correctional health services division is asking county leaders to lower the amount of funding for psychiatric services at the Sacramento County Main Jail in exchange for bringing back four medical assistant positions that were cut earlier this summer.

The division, which is part of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, is facing $443,996 in budget cuts. The cuts to the division come from declines in revenue from sales tax and vehicle license fees.

At the same time, the division’s chief, AnnMarie Boylan, wants to rehire four full-time medical assistants. The organizational support that medical assistants provide is key, Boylan told the Supervisors at a county budget hearing Tuesday. Since the four medical assistants were laid off in July, the clinicians have “had a very difficult time staying on top of our inmates’ requests for services,” Boylan said.

The division’s clinical personnel have also raised safety concerns about working alone with ill inmates, Boylan noted. Bringing back assistants would mean that clinical staffers would not be alone in a room with an inmate.

Boylan explained that the division wants to address its $443,996 hole by cutting $720,800 from a contract with the University of California Davis Health Systems for jail psychiatric services. The remaining $276,804 would go toward filling the four medical assistant positions.

The current 46-person psychiatric services staff funded by the UC Davis contract will be cut to 28 employees.

The county’s general fund will not be affected by this plan, according to Boylan’s report.

The city of Sacramento is also following planned mental health cuts at the county. City officials are concerned about a projected $10 million in cuts to the county's Department of Behavioral Health Services. The state's ongoing budget crisis is spurring the state's projected $10 million in cuts to Behavioral Health Services.

Read Boylan’s report to the Board of Supervisors here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

County finances still in trouble

2009-07-28T03:34:10Z

Sacramento County continues to be hammered by the failing local and state economy and now faces a $17.8 million hole in its budget because the county is receiving much less money from sales taxes, property taxes and vehicle license fees, according to a letter County Executive Terry Schutten prepared for the Board of Supervisors’ July 28 meeting.

The $17.8 million gap is only part of the county’s budget mess and does not account for funds the state may take or borrow from the county. Taking and borrowing funds from local governments is part of the state’s budget package. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may sign the state budget Tuesday.

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors also wants to find a way to put $10 million toward hiring 70 deputy sheriffs.

“Instead of a piecemeal approach to making corrections for the above shortfalls and the additional funding for the 70 sheriff’s deputies, the county executive is recommending that all these issues be dealt with during the final budget hearings,” Schutten wrote.

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to approve a final budget Sept. 29.

Schutten’s letter breaks down the county’s latest figures for property and sales taxes and vehicle license fees. The $17.8 million gap comes from the following sources:

*$5.3 less in estimated sales tax collections.
*$2.3 million less in estimated property tax collections.
*$4.8 million less in local public safety funds, which come from sales taxes.
*$5.4 million less in “realignment revenue,” which comes from sales taxes and vehicle license fees.

Read Schutten’s letter here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Q&A: County official describes social services cuts

2009-07-17T04:15:30Z

With Sacramento County’s approval of major budget cuts in June, how have things changed for the county department that works with the homeless and other low-income populations?

The Sacramento Press sat down with Bruce Wagstaff, director of the county’s Department of Human Assistance, to ask him how the budget cuts have affected the department and its work. Wagstaff provided details about the cuts and DHA’s role to manage homeless shelter beds.

He is also concerned about possible state budget cuts that could harm DHA.

Sacramento Press: Can you briefly explain the purpose of DHA?

Bruce Wagstaff: It provides services for the lowest-income individuals in our county through public assistance programs like CalWorks, Medi-Cal, food stamps. We also do homeless assistance programs. We do senior nutrition.

With the economy being what it is, our data suggests that we touch -- through our various programs, one way or the other -- one out of every four residents of this county. And that’s kind of staggering, when you think about it. You go into our intake offices...and you’re seeing the effects of the economy firsthand. Caseloads are going way up. Our intake offices are really crowded. We’re also having to close some of our sites because of our budget reductions.

SP: A total of 154 shelter beds were cut when the Board of Supervisors adopted the county budget on June 17. Has anything changed since then?

BW: Frankly, due to the result of some really legendary work that folks did to try to address this -- notwithstanding any further cuts that might come down -- we have found a way to essentially mitigate the impact of the reductions on the shelters. It’s by doing several things: [One of the things is] looking at the stimulus dollars. [DHA is also able to mitigate the impact of the reductions on shelters] because the board gave us some money. The board gave us some economic development funds. Plus, we moved money around within the existing system.

The nutshell is this: On the shelter side, we think that we’ve been able to mitigate the reduction on the shelters. Where we have a hole, frankly, is in the winter shelter. So, here’s the deal: If we were to continue the winter shelter at Cal Expo, we think we have enough funding for one month. And we haven’t decided what month that would be. However, we have to have more discussions because we may decide, let’s do it somewhere else besides Cal/Expo.

I’m hopeful that by the time the winter comes along, we’ll be able to say something different, pending further cuts. This is not a done deal yet. Plus, we’re waiting to see what happens at the state level. My department is very heavily impacted by what happens at the state level. I just have to emphasize [that] further cuts could be coming. Among other things, the [Board of Supervisors] is looking to find $10 million to give to the sheriff. I am saying: I don’t know where [the $10 million] is going to come from. So, we’ll have to see. But I’m just very pleased the description I’m giving right now is much different than when we went into this.

But I’m pleased to say that the Mather Children’s Services program -- which was going to be totally eliminated -- will not be. It will probably be operating at a reduced level -- pending further cuts.

SP: Can you explain overall how your department was affected by the recent cuts?

BW: We certainly have been impacted. The homeless area is a big one. We also had to make significant reductions in our General Assistance program. General Assistance is for, largely, single adults who aren’t eligible for other public assistance programs. We reduced the amount of cash that those clients will get. The department has also had major staffing reductions at the same time that caseloads are growing to unprecedented levels that we’ve had to adjust to.

SP: How many staffers?

BW: Twenty-five people will be laid off. But on top of that, we’ve unfunded close to 200 positions that were left vacant. So basically, we put a hiring freeze on the department last year. And those positions have been unfunded, basically. So, it’s not just the people being laid off -- which is very unfortunate. I wish that number [of layoffs] could have been zero. But also, we lost all these positions. By doing that, we kept our layoff numbers down. So, that’s certainly been an impact.

In my department, only about 7 percent of the funding comes from the county. So, when we have to take big cuts in the county general fund, they’re focused in a relatively narrow part of the department. So, a lot of my public assistance money, for CalWorks and Medi-Cal and things like that, comes from the state and the [federal government]. So, when they ask me to take general fund reductions, it’s in homeless programs, in senior nutrition, in volunteer programs.

We’re also waiting to see what the state does because there have been major reductions proposed in the CalWorks program, and that could affect us hugely.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

154 shelter beds slashed in county budget cuts

2009-06-26T02:29:03Z

Concerns raised earlier this month about a lack of funding for shelter beds have become reality: Budget cuts to the county’s Department of Human Assistance (DHA) mean there will be 154 fewer shelter beds for homeless people during most of the year, according to DHA spokeswoman Lucinda Serynek.

The Board of Supervisors on June 17 approved the county’s proposed budget with major cuts that addressed a $180 million shortfall. In September, a final budget will be adopted.

The 154 beds were not funded when the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors approved the county’s proposed budget. Serynek confirmed Wednesday that 154 beds won’t receive county funding for all but one month month in the 2009/2010 fiscal year, which starts July 1.

The county has enough funding for about a month at its winter shelter, Serynek explained. The county has $135,000 in federal funding to cover 154 shelter beds at Cal Expo for one month next winter, she said. The specific month has not been selected at this point.

DHA Director Bruce Wagstaff told the Board of Supervisors earlier this month that the department would not be able to cover the costs of 154 beds. The Supervisors were able to keep 174 of the original 328 beds with the help of other county departments and stakeholders.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City/County budget crisis: The weekly roundup

2009-06-22T01:20:33Z

City approves budget, 168 possible layoffs

The City Council approved its budget June 16 for the 2009/2010 fiscal year, which means the city no longer has a budget gap of more than $43 million. However, the budget also means that city services face significant cuts, and 168 employees are scheduled to be laid off.

The last day of work for the 168 workers has been changing because the city and unions are still grappling with contract negotiations. The most recent information is that the last day of work for employees scheduled to be laid off is July 3, said acting city spokeswoman Wendy Klock-Johnson Friday.

The city has already distributed 168 pink slips. Still, the number of actual layoffs hinges on union concessions. City unions must make deals with city managers soon: The final deadline for labor agreements is June 30 at midnight, Klock-Johnson said earlier this week.

City parks to be maintained by volunteers, private sector?

Budget cuts and layoffs at the city’s Parks and Recreation department may mean the department could consider contracting with private firms and working with neighborhood groups to maintain city parks, said Jim Combs, director of Parks and Recreation.

A total of 65 workers in the department have received pink slips, according to Parks and Recreation spokesman Hindolo Brima. The department’s planned $8.3 million in cuts includes layoffs.

Combs told the City Council last week that if the department is going to suffer severe budget cuts, then the department may consider working with the private sector, as well as Parks and Recreation staffers, for maintenance services at city parks.

He also said he would be meeting with several neighborhood groups that have indicated they want to enhance maintenance in their local parks.

The situation for Parks and Recreation may soon change if Stationary Engineers Local 39, the union that represents parks workers, makes concessions to city managers.

Joan Bryant, director of public employees for Stationary Engineers Local 39, was not immediately available for comment Friday. The union represents a wide variety of workers in numerous city departments, including code enforcement, parks and recreation, parking enforcemen and the solid waste division.

800 pink slips for county employees

The county’s approval of its proposed 2009/2010 budget last week means that 800 employees may lose their jobs.

In September, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors will adopt the fiscal year’s final budget.

Budget damage to District Attorney’s office lessened

There’s no doubt that the county’s budget crisis is resulting in dramatic cuts and layoffs. But when it comes to the District Attorney’s office, the budget situation has improved.

The D.A.’s office lowered its budget gap to $1.7 million from $13.1 million in May. The most recent numbers for the D.A.’s office are 18 possible layoffs and 45 unfunded positions, said Shelly Orio, spokeswoman for the D.A.’s office.

The recent figures may change because the county is still negotiating with four unions that represent employees in the D.A.’s office, Orio said. The D.A.’s office is also still waiting for clarification on some of the decisions made by the Board of Supervisors last week.

In May, Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully said she would have to cut major units, such as elder abuse and major narcotics, if she had to resolve a $13.1 million deficit.

“The good news is that no prosecution units will be completely eliminated,” Scully told the Board June 10.

See the D.A.’s June 10 presentation for more information on the office’s numbers.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

District Attorney: budget crisis means justice won't be served

2009-05-14T03:02:32Z

Elder abuse. Major narcotics. Community prosecution.

These are just a few of the key units in the county district attorney’s office that would be eliminated if the office has to make $13.1 million more in cuts to help balance the county’s budget.

Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully gave the Board of Supervisors a dire outlook Wednesday of how the public would suffer from proposed cuts to the D.A.’s office.

The county’s most recent figure for its budget deficit is $180 million, said Kerri Aiello, a county public information officer.

“Rest assured, with these kind of cuts, if I have to close a $13.1 million gap, justice is not going to be served in this community,” Scully said.

The department would need to make 109 layoffs and remove entire units to fill the $13.1 million hole, she said.

Units that would be entirely removed include major narcotics, community prosecution, special investigation, statutory rape, elder abuse and child abduction.

Scully said other units that would not be eliminated but have already been cut or will be cut include homicides, gangs, domestic violence, adult sexual assault, victim witness advocates, juvenile hall, and special assault and child abuse.

“It’s not a pretty picture,” Scully said.

She explained that the D.A.’s child abduction unit prosecutes cases in which a non-custodial parent violates the law by taking a child from the custodial parent. The proposed budget cuts mean that those particular child abduction cases “likely would not be prosecuted,” Scully said.

She told the county supervisors that serious or violent cases under the major narcotics unit would still be prosecuted by the D.A.’s office. However, she noted that cases involving major narcotics would be folded into a “general felony” category. This means that a major narcotics case “now becomes one case in a caseload of a smorgasbord of crimes,” she said.

Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan asked Scully if she has reason to believe the D.A.’s office would receive federal stimulus funding.

Scully said the office has applied for $10 million in federal stimulus dollars. However, she explained outside the meeting that the she didn’t think it was likely the office would be awarded the entire amount for which it applied. She said the stimulus funds were “too uncertain.”

Two more workshops on the county’s budget crisis will be held this week at the Board of Supervisor’s chambers at 700 H St. Workshops on both Thursday, May 14, and Friday, May 15, will begin at 9:30 a.m.

Here’s a breakdown from Scully on the 109 layoffs:
46 attorneys

18 investigators
6 victim advocates
12 investigative staff
3 criminalists
24 support staffers