On the chopping block this week, the County Board of Supervisors is expected to cut hundreds of positions and eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars from the next budget. That's more than 770 positions and $400 million slashed from the budget. The proposed 2009-10 spending plan is $4.94 billion, compared to the current budget of $5.19 billion and is slated to go into effect July 1.
Most of those 770 positions in question are currently vacant, but 79 people will still be laid off, reported the Union Tribune. This includes managers, record clerks, veterinary pathologists and senior research scientists.
"The county is facing a triple whammy between the reduction in local revenues, the state budget impacts and the losses on Wall Street," Board Chairwoman Diane Jacob told the Union Tribune. " In the end, there's no question that county government will be a smaller government providing fewer services to fewer people."
The County Board of Supervisors is also reportedly trying to steer more public services to the private sector. Jacob plans to work with Chief Administrative Officer Walt Ekard to find new public services the county could outsource to both private and nonprofit sectors. One of the services on the list is the Child Health and Youth Clinics program, which serves nearly 2,000 children and teens each year. They will instead be referred to community clinics across the county, reported the Union Tribune.
The Board is scheduled to meet Tuesday at 9 a.m.
