County will continue to drain savings

Supervisors OK new budget

By Dana M. Nichols dana@calaverasenterprise.com / June 16, 2016

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Calaveras County will continue draining its savings accounts in the coming year under a preliminary budget that won the informal approval this week from a majority of county supervisors.

By tapping about $3 million in fund balances and another $1.8 million from the so-called Teeter Fund that accumulates property tax penalty payments, supervisors were able to balance a General Fund budget that adds a few positions requested by department heads including a part-time public information officer, a deputy probation officer, four Sheriff’s Office trainees, a correctional officer and correctional technician, a deputy district attorney and six part-time library branch assistants.

The supervisors also agreed to purchase two four-wheel-drive patrol vehicles for sheriff patrol use and a dozen stab-proof vests for jail staff.

All of those expenditures are in addition to planned hiring for the county’s new medical marijuana industry regulation program. Hires for that program are planned to include two deputies and a sergeant for the Sheriff’s Office, two code enforcement officers, a deputy district attorney, an agricultural biologist, an environmental health technician and two planners. The marijuana program also is budgeted to purchase two additional vehicles for the Sheriff’s Office, two vehicles for the code enforcement staff, and computers for many of the new hires. Funding for these hires is projected to come from fees paid by cannabis farmers as they register their operations.

Supervisor Debbie Ponte was the dissenting voice on the board during budget hearings that concluded on Wednesday. She said she opposed the proposed preliminary budget because it uses one-time money to hire people for what are supposed to be permanent jobs. Calaveras County Auditor/Controller Rebecca Callen echoed Ponte’s perspective.

“I would caution you that you can’t assume you will have $3 million in cash to carry to next year,” Callen said, referring to the fund balances from the current year that will be used to help pay for next year’s expenditures.

Callen said that the fund balances exist only because departments reduced purchases of supplies or held positions vacant over the past year. Meanwhile, employee costs for salaries and benefits continue to rise more quickly than county revenue.

Supervisors, however, face tremendous pressure to maintain or even restore services cut during the years since the 2008 real estate collapse triggered a decline in county property values and revenues.

Given the harsh economic reality, Sheriff’s Office representatives, for example, did not even make formal requests for all the positions they believe are needed to adequately staff the agency. But they talked about it during the hearings.

“In 2002 we had 60 people. In 2008 we had 39 and now we have 24, including contracts,” Sheriff Rick DiBasilio said of his staff of sworn officers. “We’re short-staffed everywhere.”

The contracts Dibasilio mentioned involve deputies hired specifically with contract funds to patrol properties for other government agencies, such as reservoirs and national forests. When those deputies are called on to back up regular patrol officers, they no longer receive funding, forcing the department to borrow from its general fund account.

When asked how many additional deputies he would need to restore the department, DiBasilio said, “Twenty-four. That’s three shifts a day, four guys each shift with no overlap. Now, we have two shifts a day with three guys on each shift.”

For the most part, supervisors followed the preliminary budget recommendation made by County Administrative Officer Shirley Ryan. At the last minute, they did add a few additional positions, primarily for law enforcement, including a deputy district attorney and a part-time paralegal for the District Attorney’s Office, and two four-wheel-drive vehicles for the Sheriff’s Office.

Still, Callen warned that supervisors a year from now could find themselves without enough revenue to keep everyone on staff that they plan to hire. She said projections from the office of Gov. Jerry Brown indicate that the recovery could be over and another revenue slump could be ahead.

Supervisor Chris Wright, however, dismissed such concerns. “We are getting off into philosophical, crystal ball type of stuff,” he said.

“It’s not perfect, obviously,” Wright said of the preliminary budget. “I think we reached a good compromise on this budget.”

The General Fund portion of the budget is the part over which local officials have the most control. It funds core services, including the bulk of law enforcement, administration and offices such as the Assessor and the Tax Collector. The General Fund expenditures for the fiscal year that begins July 1 are projected to be $53.6 million, while revenues are projected to be only $50.6 million.

Total expenditures are projected to be about $140 million, with total revenues of $123 million. Federal grant funding over which local officials have little control makes up the bulk of spending in departments that maintain roads, operate the landfill and provide social welfare services.

Big uncertainties hang over the preliminary budget.

Ryan said that the Butte Fire is significant both because county leaders don’t know how long it will take to be reimbursed for costs and because of changes in property values. She said county leaders may also have to change the scope of the medical marijuana regulatory program depending on how many farms register and pay fees to fund that program.

In September, county leaders will adjust the budget and bring back a final version for board approval. Meanwhile, state officials, acknowledging the massive work required to correct the value of properties burned in the Butte Fire, have granted the Calaveras County Assessor’s Office permission to close the tax rolls this year on July 31,