Numbers Game

County Budget Released

by Martha Sadler

This year’s budget process was relatively comfortable, but it
was not completely bloodless. For one thing, insured seniors living
in group homes will have to do without the preventative counseling
to which they have become accustomed, as health officials decided
that other needs were more pressing. More dramatically, heads
rolled as the Economic Development Program (EDP) was axed. The
program is an arm of the three-year-old Housing and Community
Development Department — recently stained by allegations of client
fraud, even though the allegations stretch back beyond its current
administration. Some suspect that the economic program’s
dismantlement is merely the beginning of the end of the HCD. Some
of EDP’s functions will be absorbed by the executive office —
further proof that all roads lead to the centralization of power
under county Chief Executive Officer Michael Brown.

Although everybody else got a COLA (Cost-of-Living Allowance),
Brown’s fierce fiscal conservatism prevailed in that the board
funded very few new programs. Undaunted, several departments with
at least one supervisor willing to advocate for them sent their
most charismatic programs out to ask for more money. On Brown’s
suggestions, the board delayed decisions on almost all of these
requests until next October, when certain reimbursements are
expected from the state to the county. However, Brown also urged
that such one-time funds be used for reserves or capital projects
rather than “new ongoing repetitive costs.” These requests included
the Fire Department’s civilian fuel crew, which has everything it
needs to make it a popular program: teams of at-risk young people
fighting wildfires while chopping and hauling underbrush to reduce
fire fuel off-season, all for pennies on the dollar compared with
regular firefighters. Fire Chief John Scherrei’s request to make
this program year-round almost died on a 4-1 vote until Supervisor
Salud Carbajal moved to delay the decision until fall. The strategy
of delaying such tough decisions until fall finally snowballed to
include practically every request that came to the board,
including: