“Officials in cash-strapped Orange County have ordered the deepest cuts in staffing in years, saying they’ll lay off 210 social services workers and force 4,000 other employees to take two weeks off without pay. Not since the county’s 1994 bankruptcy, when nearly 2,000 workers lost their jobs, has Orange County been in such financial straits, a result of shrinking sales tax revenue, falling property values and reduced state funding,” according to the L.A. Times.
It makes sense to make cuts in departments that are now under-funded, but I hope the Board of Supervisors is also going to slash the pay of the overpaid County managers, such as Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante, who has some kind of management job at the County.
Also, when will the County close Supervisor Janet Nguyen’s satellite office in Westminster? I mean do we really need this office given the proximity of Santa Ana to Westminster? This office costs “$128,000 in the first year, and $117,000 per year after that. It is staffed with existing employees from the county’s healthcare, social services and housing agencies,” according to the L.A. Times.
I don’t think that the idea floated by the head of the Orange County Employees Association, Nick Berardino’s, to give all county workers a week off without pay will work. Some of those county workers are needed at all times, and can only take time off when doing so on a scheduled basis. Moreover, this proposal doesn’t resolve the base issue – some state funding is now gone, and the departments that received that funding now have to make cuts, period.
I do think that the Supervisors and the County Managers need to tighten their belts too. Maybe they can return some of that fancy furniture they bought last year? Maybe we can downsize their staff and take away their car allowances? Fair is fair. If the workers have to pay a price, so should the bigwigs.
Berardino is “pressing to have executive management car allowances eliminated, along with calling on all department heads, managers and elected officials to pay for their own pensions. He also wants 401-k plans that are offered to elected officials and managers to be eliminated and is calling on managers to forgo a 5 percent raise planned for early next year,” according to the O.C. Register. Those are all good ideas.
Here is another thought – perhaps all the union workers who were not laid off should each collect ten percent of their pay this month and donate it to their brothers and sisters who were just laid off? I would challenge the Supervisors and County managers to do the same.
Interesting. I have read the info kicked around the last week and wonder how a 3 percent across the board cut for everyone and no jobs lost, turned into what is in today’s paper.
I read it as a 5 percent job loss and a 6.5 percent wage cut.
I guess to save the raises and Christmas bonuses for the highbrows at the top, the working people of the county must pay.
With a depression coming fast, to cut the agencies that are going to have the biggest increases in work load seems like a big mistake to me.
I believe each County Supervisor has a staff of from 5-8 or 9 people. That is 25 – 40 or more people supporting the elected 5 Supervisors (One in this group is actually the brother of the Supervisor he works for. Good leadership under these circumstances calls for each Supervisor to give up one position, 5 in total. The primary impact would be fewer public events (groundbreakings, ribbon cuttings, etc.) where an MC announces some junior staffer is present representing his or her boss – a county supervisor. The public can suffer along just fine with this reduced level of service. Set the tone, Supervisors! Then, cut back or eliminate the funding to special interests, such as the tourism industry, the OC Business Council, and on and on. Focus on core (as required by law) county services and reduce or eliminate non-core activity funding so that core services are the last to be hurt, whether the Supervisors like those core services or not – it is State law that they must be provided by counties and with high quality.
The Orange County Business Council is funded by the County? Do you have more detailed information about this?
Art,
Maybe you can scoop the Lib OC by creating a countdown clock on when janet nguyen closes that constituent services office in little saigon and repays the healthcare agency for the staffer that they paid for to work in her office. i posted that suggestion on Lib OC but I think Chris is too much of a Janny to call out his new boss on this issue. Either that or Count Chocula wont let him.
Speakingof that field office, i wonder if the owner of that complex is a donor to any supervisors campaigns.
No. 3. In the past the County Board of Sup’s has periodically funded the Business Council for special studies and special projects. Such funding is seldom the result of a competitive bidding process in pursuit of a well defined scope of work, but instead a sole source purchase. One can argue it is value received for value paid. Another perspective is that it is value paid to assist the organization financially with the value received being somewhat useless analysis and studies. It’s all legal, just questionable as to true motivation and usefulness. In these finanical times such activity seems unaffordable to this author.