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THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
Adopted this Order on _March 30, 1993 , by the following vote:
AYES: Supervisors Powers, Smith, Bishop, McPeak, Torlakson
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN: None
SUBJECT: Status Report of the County Administrator on the
County Budget
The Board considered the recommendations of the County
Administrator contained in the Status Report on the workshop and
public hearings on efforts to balance the County Budget for 1992-1993
and prepare for the 1993-1994 County Budget. A copy of the status
report is attached and included as a part of this document.
Jim Hicks, AFSCME, appeared and spoke.
Following discussion of the Board, the following actions were
taken:
1. APPROVED the recommendations of the County Administrator
regarding the process to be followed for the April Budget
Workshop including rescheduling the Workshop to April 20 and 22,
and the Phase I Public Hearing on the County Budget to April 30,
1993 ;
2 . EMPHASIZED the need to secure input from all levels of staff
within a department relative to prioritizing the "time out"
proposals/recommendations as well as the integration of services
to achieve greater efficiencies and cost effectiveness;
3 . INSTRUCTED the County Administrator to invite the County's
Legislative Delegation and their liaison staff to the Budget
Workshop and Hearing in April;
4. REQUESTED the County Administrator and Social Service Director
to work with Assemblyman Rainey on legislation aimed at reducing
or eliminating procedures for social service programs to achieve
cost savings;
5. REQUESTED the County Administrator to prepare for Board support
of Senator Boatwright's Bill requiring the reduction of non-
essential State services before touching local property taxes;
and
6. DIRECTED the Social Service Director to arrange a meeting with
Congressmen Miller and Baker, a Board representative, and
representatives of his Department and SEIU to secure their
assistance in reducing the volume of paper work required by
federal agencies so that services to a targeted population are
not impeded or delayed.
I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of
an action taken and entered on the minutes of the
cc• County Administrator Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
• Director, Social Service ATTESTED: uV-0, if 192
PHIL BATCHELOR,Clerk of the Board
of Supervisors and County Administrator
By Lo.. .- � Deputy
TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Contra
FROM: Phil Batchelor, County Administrator Costa
March 29 1993
DATE: County
'�'��vC
SUBJECT: STATUS REPORT ON THE WORKSHOP AND PUBLIC HEARINGS ON EFFORTS
TO BALANCE THE COUNTY BUDGET FOR 1992-93 AND PREPARE FOR THE
1993-94 COUNTY BUDGET
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
INTRODUCTION:
As the Board directed on February 2, 1993, it is imperative that an
impact statement be prepared which demonstrates what would happen
to public services provided by the County if the Governor' s Budget
were to be enacted as introduced. As a result, a 40% of net county
cost budget reduction plan was requested of each Department.
However, it would be most unwise to implement a reduction of this
magnitude at this time since doing so might simply encourage the
Legislature to go ahead and make the level of reduction in local
property taxes that has been suggested. At the same time,
regardless of what the Legislature does with the State' s projected
1993-94 deficit, there are known problems in the County' s Budget
which result from three factors :
* The remaining impact of the reductions made by the State in
the current fiscal year's budget.
* The affect of the recession on local revenue sources .
* Unavoidable cost increases for the 1993-94 fiscal year for
items such as utilities and previously negotiated lease
agreements .
As a result, the following recommendations are focused on that
portion of the 1993-94 projected County budget deficit which is
already known and which does not depend on any future actions of
the Legislature or Governor.
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: X YES SIGNATURE: Wj �XAV
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
APPROVE OTHER
SIGNATURE(S):
ACTION OF BOARD ON March 30, 1993 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
V=SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
NT ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES E BOARD
ABSENT: ABS OF SUPERVISORS ON TtiE-D TA E SHOWN.
TED
Contact:County Administrator PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF
cc; All County Department�I e_ads (Via CAO) UR. -VI``AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
All employee oraqjai-zations (Via Personnel Dirette-r4
./ BY DEPUTY
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1 . ACCEPT this report on the status of the budget process in
balancing the County' s 1992-93 Budget and preparing for the
1993-94 County Budget.
2 . RESCHEDULE the dates for the Budget Workshop on the remainder
of the 1992-93 County Budget and preparations for the 1993-94
County Budget from April 1 & 2, 1993 to April 20 & 22, 1993,
at 9 : 00 A.M. each day.
3 . RESCHEDULE the Public Hearing on Phase I of the 1993-94 County
Budget from April 5, 1993 to April 30, 1993 at 9 : 00 A.M.
4 . At the Budget Workshop scheduled for April 20 & 22, 1993,
REQUEST each Department Head to be prepared to present and
describe his or her 40% reduction plan in order to assist the
Board of Supervisors in identifying the potential impact of
such a reduction on services to the community.
5 . DIRECT the County Administrator to summarize the impacts of
the 40% reductions from all County Departments and AUTHORIZE
distribution of the summary to the Governor's Office,
appropriate members of the Legislature (including at least the
Leadership and the members of this County' s Delegation) , the
business community, labor unions, and other concerned
individuals and organizations .
6 . DIRECT the following:
* The County Administrator to identify for each County
Department the magnitude of the budget problem that is
currently known.
* Each Department Head to report to the County
Administrator how he or she would recommend reducing the
Department' s budget to respond to this known budget
problem.
* The County Administrator to present this information to
the Board of Supervisors as a part of the Budget Workshop
on April 20 & 22, 1993, and
* Each Department Head to be prepared to describe the
impact of this known budget reduction on his or her
Department ' s programs and operations.
7 . DIRECT the Personnel Department to work with Department Heads
and employee organizations to strengthen the effectiveness of
a voluntary time-off program by restructuring the program to
insure appropriate application of the program in all
Departments .
8 . DIRECT staff to continue to work with County Department Heads
and employee organizations to determine the feasibility of
defining a mandatory time-off ( furlough) program that would
produce cost savings that could be applied to reducing or
eliminating the known budget deficit return a report on this
subject to the Board of Supervisors on April 20, 1993 .
9 . DIRECT all Department Heads to reexamine all of the employee
suggestions which resulted from the "time-out" sessions and
other suggestions which have been received, REQUEST each
Department Head to focus on those suggestions which have the
greatest potential for savings, and, if feasible, quantify the
savings which would result both for the 1992-93 County Budget
and the 1993-94 County Budget and provide a report to the
County Administrator by April 15, 1993 on the feasibility of
implementing each such suggestion.
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10 . REQUEST all employee organizations to review all suggestions
which have come to their attention and ask that they focus on
those suggestions which have the greatest potential for
savings, and provide their comments and recommendations to the
County Administrator by April 15, 1993, so the comments and
recommendations can be considered as alternatives to layoffs .
11 . REQUEST the Ad Hoc Budget Committee to review the comments and
recommendations of Department Heads and employee organizations
on employee suggestions at their next meeting on April 16,
1993 and provide feedback to the Board of Supervisors during
the public hearing on the budget April 30, 1993 on the
desirability of pursuing the suggestions .
12 . DIRECT the County Administrator to work with County
Departments to assess all appropriate alternative means of
eliminating the known budget deficit problem and minimizing
layoffs, including but not necessarily limited to the
following and to include reports on the success of this effort
as a part of the Budget Workshop on April 20 & 22, 1993 :
A. Increasing revenue to the County by undertaking a more
intense effort to collect funds due to the County.
B. Savings resulting from the implementation of employee
suggestions, including those from the "time-off"
sessions .
C. Savings from a voluntary time-off program.
D. Expenditure reductions from all other possible sources,
other than the layoff of employees, including such areas
as reductions in services and supplies, leases, purchase
of equipment and contracts for services .
E. Savings from a mandatory time-off program.
F. After taking into account all of the above, identify the
level of layoffs which are needed in order to complete
the necessary expenditure reductions .
BACKGROUND:
On February 2, 1993, the Board of Supervisors approved some 79
recommendations related to the 1992-93 and 1993-94 County budgets
and the impact the Governor' s Proposed Budget for the 1993-94
fiscal year would have on the County. At that time, it was
suggested that if all elements of the Governor' s Budget were
implemented as proposed, it could result in a deficit in the
County' s 1993-94 budget of between $72 million and $106 million.
This would require a reduction of some 40% in the number of County
dollars which are allocated to all County Departments, compared
with the current fiscal year.
County Departments were requested to prepare impact statements
describing what would happen to the Department 's programs and
operations if a 40% reduction had to be implemented. The County
Administrator was asked to report back to the Board and for this
purpose the Board scheduled a Budget Workshop for April 1 & 2, 1993
and a Public Hearing on the Budget for April 5, 1993 . It was
anticipated that the 1993-94 budget process might require as many
as three separate phases, depending on when the Legislature
completed work on the State Budget. The April Budget Workshop and
Public Hearing would constitute Phase I .
However, it now seems more appropriate to reschedule the Budget
Workshop and Public Hearing. We are, therefore, recommending that
the Board reschedule the Workshop for April 20 & 22, 1993 and
reschedule the Public Hearing for April 30, 1993 .
For purposes of Phase I, we are proposing that the Board of
Supervisors focus only on the portion of the overall potential
budget deficit which can already be quantified fairly precisely and
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which is not dependent on the actions of the Legislature on the
State Budget as is described in the introductory comments . The
above recommendations direct the County Administrator to quantify
this portion of the problem and ask Department Heads to describe
what would be required in order to eliminate this portion of the
overall problem. Department Heads will also comment on the impact
of a 40% reduction, should that eventuality become necessary.
The above recommendations direct staff to explore all alternatives
to laying off County employees and factor these possible savings
into the known deficit. This process includes an extensive review
of all employees suggestions for savings which have been received,
including those which were generated as a part of the "time-out"
sessions which have been held by each Department. Department Heads
are reviewing and prioritizing these suggestions based on which
have the most potential for saving money. Employee organizations
will also be asked to review any suggestions they may have received
and submit their comments and recommendations . The Board' s Ad Hoc
Budget Committee will then review the comments and recommendations
of the Department Heads and employee organizations and provide some
feedback to the Board during the Public Hearing on April 30, 1993.
This process will also include working with Department Heads and
employee organizations in an effort to try to describe a mandatory
time-off program which would apply to all employees and which would
involve putting all employees on an unpaid leave for a specified
number of days during the year. Such a mandatory time-off program
could substantially mitigate the need for laying off County
employees .
We believe that taking a little additional time will result in an
opportunity for a more thorough, comprehensive and broadly based
review of all alternatives. The Board will then be in a position
by April 30, 1993 to determine what actions need to be taken and on
what timetable.
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DATE:
REQUEST TO SPEAK FORM
(THREE (3) MINUTE LIMIT)
Complete this- m and place it in the box near the speakers' rostrum before
addressir�g�the oard.
NAME: i. PHONE:
ADDRESS: � �U(/ /,r�c�/ CrIY:
I am speaking formyself OR organization:
Check one: (NAME OF ORGANIZATION)
I wish to speak on Agenda Item # a
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SPEAKERS
1. Deposit the "Request to Speak" form (on the reverse side) in the box next to the speakers'
microphone before your item is to be considered.
2. You will be called to make your presentation. Please speak into the microphone.
3. Begin by stating your name and address: whether you are speaking for yourself or as a
representative of an organization.
4. Give the Clerk a copy of your presentation or support documentation, if available.
5. Please limit your presentation to three minutes. Avoid repeating comments made by previous
speakers. (The Chair may limit'length of presentations so all persons may be heard.)