COUNTY FACES BUDGET CUTS; OFFICIALS DISAGREE ON HOW TO HANDLE $5 MILLION DEFICIT.

Byline: Krystn Shrieve Staff Writer

Closing county parks, scaling back plans for a juvenile justice facility and taking away funding for vacant jobs are among options supervisors could face Tuesday as they try to eliminate a $5 million deficit.

In a memo released Thursday, Ventura County Auditor-Controller Thomas Mahon said the county must eliminate programs to reduce spending, but left it to the Chief Administrative Office to make the cuts.

But some say freezing positions and following other suggestions won't be enough to solve the county's spending habits, which were spelled out in a scathing resignation letter from CAO David Baker, who said the county is near financial chaos.

``No matter where I might find $5 million - and we can get it from anywhere - it doesn't solve the ongoing problem of how the county operates,'' said Supervisor Frank Schillo. ``We need to change the way we operate by reducing expenditures to be more in line with the money we have.''

He pointed out that suggestions made during budget reconciliation talks in October were very general and ``they're not going to make us any real money. . . . We're beyond that. We need to get specific.''

The county was forced to take a hard look at its fiscal problems after Baker's abrupt resignation Saturday, after less than one week on the job.

The auditor-controller's memo explained that disbursements range from $121.8 million to $41.4 million but that except for a few days in late December the projected cash balance doesn't even reach $20 million.

Mahon said the county's property tax allocation of $34.8 million will be largely absorbed by the end of the calendar year for payroll and other payouts. A number of department heads, he said in the memo, are concerned that they may exceed this year's budget and are unable to absorb pay increases.

Interim CAO Bert Bigler, who would be charged with prioritizing program reductions if requested by supervisors, could not say Thursday which programs might be in danger.

For guidance, the county should look to program cuts Orange County made when it went bankrupt in December 1994,Schillo said.

Schillo also said the county needs to take a hard look at the way duties are allocated to employees - for example, three years ago he recalled seeing a group of five people in the Human Services Agency typing welfare data into the computer for county records and another five employees were inputting the same data for state records in the next room.

``Why do we need two sets of five people doing the same thing?'' Schillo asked. ``We do it because that's the way we've always done it. That answer doesn't work anymore, we need to change.''

Schillo suggested comparing departments within the county to similar sized departments in other counties. And he suggested increasing revenue by forming partnerships with the private sector.

As an example, he said, the size of the proposed juvenile justice facility could be reduced and the surplus land leased to a law firm that could build offices next to the facility.

However, Supervisor John Flynn said it will never get to the point where the county will have to take drastic measures such as cutting programs or laying off any of the county's nearly 7,000 employees.

``This issue has been blown out of proportion,'' Flynn said. ``I can't recommend which programs to cut because I don't think it will get to that point. I don't think it will even be necessary.''

Mahon did point out some possible revenue sources in his report - including $8.9 million projected to be received next fiscal year from the federal tobacco settlement that could be distributed this fiscal year and also the county could receive an extra $3 million in vehicle fees.

``We are monitoring this on a daily basis in order to ensure the financial resources are used in the most effective manner,'' Mahon said. ``However immediate action is required to avoid serious financial disruptions.''

Wall Street believes the county's high bond rating of A-1 - the highest possible - will not be affected by its current fiscal woes, said Kevork Khrimian, vice president senior analyst with Moody's Investors Service, the New York-based company that issues bond ratings for counties.

``Our rating incorporates their reserves which are sufficient in our opinion to deal with relatively small shortfalls such as $3 million or $4 million,'' Khrimian said. ``Ventura is a large county with a good economy and a good financial history and ongoing issues such as this don't necessarily cause a rating change. The real issue is not the size of the shortfall, but how the county plans to deal with it.''