COUNTY BEGINS TALKS ON CUTTING BUDGET DEFICIT : DEPARTMENTS JUSTIFY FUNDING NEEDS.Byline: Michael Michael, archangel Michael (mī`kəl) [Heb.,=who is like God?], archangel prominent in Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions. In the Bible and early Jewish literature, Michael is one of the angels of God's presence. Coit n. 1. A quoit. v. t. 1. To throw, as a stone. [Obs.] See Quoit. Daily News Staff Writer Opening hearings Thursday on how to close Ventura County's $20 million budget gap, the heads of five public safety departments with guaranteed revenue defended their spending levels before supervisors. Last year, the board adopted an ordinance A law, statute, or regulation enacted by a Municipal Corporation. An ordinance is a law passed by a municipal government. A municipality, such as a city, town, village, or borough, is a political subdivision of a state within which a municipal corporation has been that mandates spending Proposition 172 sales-tax revenue exclusively on public safety. The ordinance also prevents the county from reducing existing general fund spending on the sheriff's, district attorney, public defender public defender, governmental official who represents indigent persons accused of crime. U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding the right to counsel to pretrial proceedings and holding that a person cannot be sentenced to even one day in jail unless a lawyer was , corrections and fire departments. District Attorney Mike Bradbury told supervisors Thursday that tougher sentencing laws that result in more trials, the growing number of violent juvenile criminals and increased emphasis on domestic violence are stretching his budget. He also praised the board for protecting public safety spending. ``Without your demonstrated commitment to safety, we wouldn't be able to do what we do,'' Bradbury said. Ken Clayman, public defender, said his department's attorneys ``are very proud of being able to provide quality service in an economic manner,'' despite increasingly difficult cases. Relying, in part, on volunteer attorneys and having the two assistant public defenders handle courtroom assignments for indigent indigent 1) n. a person so poor and needy that he/she cannot provide the necessities of life (food, clothing, decent shelter) for himself/herself. 2) n. one without sufficient income to afford a lawyer for defense in a criminal case. clients, Clayman said his department's budget was under the average for the 38 public defender's offices in California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). . ``No one could assert that an overwhelming amount of money is being spent on these individuals,'' he said. The supervisors did not start cutting into the draft budget Thursday and are scheduled to hear presentations from county agencies again next week. On Monday, department heads from agriculture, airports, animal regulation, the Local Agency Formation Commission, Public Works public works pl.n. Construction projects, such as highways or dams, financed by public funds and constructed by a government for the benefit or use of the general public. Noun 1. Agency and Resource Management Agency are scheduled to appear before the board. Public safety, excluding the fire protection district, and health services health services Managed care The benefits covered under a health contract are the two largest spending areas in the county's general fund budget. The public safety agencies alone account for 34 percent of the $522 million general fund budget. Chief Administrative Officer A chief administrative officer (CAO) is responsible for administrative management of private, public or governmental corporations. The CAO is one of the highest ranking members of an organization, managing daily operations and usually reporting directly to the chief executive Lin Koester has recommended that county departments financed by the general fund - exempting public safety - plan to cut general fund subsidies some 25 percent. The cut would apply to a department's net cost to the general fund, which is the difference between a department's revenue and expense. ``It's going to be a very difficult year,'' Koester said during the board's regular meeting Tuesday. Cuts already outlined in the draft budget total $8.3 million, so the supervisors must find far greater savings to eliminate the $20 million deficit projected for the 1996-97 fiscal year, said Bert Bigler, the county's chief deputy administrative officer. If no cuts were made, Bigler told the board the deficit would reach $31 million in 1997-98 and $37 million in 1998-99. Supervisor Frank Schillo said Tuesday that the board should do the tough work in the coming budget rather than allow the deficit to increase. ``I think it's there for the world to see that we're not going to be in a better position than now to make these cuts,'' Schillo said. |
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