County may close clinics, slash jobs.

Byline: Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

As many as 91 full-time jobs and government services worth nearly $20 million will be on the chopping block when Lane County begins budget discussions next week for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Required by law to balance its revenue and expenses, the county has no choice but to cut programs and positions in order to make ends meet, said County Administrator Bill Van Vactor, who on April 29 will deliver what he acknowledges will be a gloomy budget message.

The budget blueprint, available to the public today at the county commissioners office or on the county's Internet site, proposes a wide variety of cutbacks, including:

Closing the county's three rural public health clinics, in Cottage Grove, Florence and Oakridge.

Reducing the number of beds at the Lane County Jail by 84 - in addition to 35 cut several months ago - and laying off seven deputies and one clerk.

Cutting back the number of prosecuting attorneys in the district attorney's office by four, to 21.

Eliminating the cattery program and cutting public hours by 20 percent at the Lane County Animal Regulation Authority.

Shutting down half of the 14 beds now in use at Pathways, a residential substance abuse facility for adolescents.

County officials already have cut more than $2 million from this year's budget to offset reductions made by the state Legislature during the past several months to state-funded programs. They anticipate at least $10 million more in state cutbacks in health, law enforcement and social services in the coming fiscal year.

On top of that, projected double-digit increases in personnel costs - the lion's share coming from retirement payments to people in the Public Employees Retirement System and health benefits for employees and retirees - could cost the county nearly $16 million next year, forcing even more cuts in other areas to balance the budget.

Meanwhile, revenues in the general fund - which accounts for about 25 percent of the county's overall $400 million budget and includes nearly all of its $49 million in discretionary income - probably will increase by only 1.4 percent while normal operating expenses rise by an estimated 6 percent, according to Van Vactor. The county will have to cut at least $4.5 million to take care of that gap in the budget, Van Vactor said.

In addition to possibly closing its three rural public health clinics, tobacco prevention programs and home visits to low-income mothers with young children also may lose substantial portions of their funding, said Karen Gillette, manager of the county's public health programs.

"The branch clinics have been very important to people in the rural areas," Gillette said. "We've been able to offer family planning, immunization clinics, food handler testing and communicable disease surveillance and treatment to people in their own areas instead of making people come clear into Eugene to receive those services, which many of them find difficult to do."

Gillette said the current budget situation reminds her of the early 1980s, when the county found itself in the throes of one of the worst recessions since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

"In 1976, we had 138 employees in the Public Health Department," she said. "In the 1980s, we went down to 28."

Despite rapid growth in the county's population since then, the department still has only 72 employees, and that may decrease to 65 on July 1, depending on budget decisions.

"These cuts are going deep," Gillette said. "It's terrible to tell people they're going to lose services, and it's terrible to tell people they're going to lose jobs. This is an emotional time for everybody."

The effect of individual budget cuts can go far beyond the program in which they happen, said Steve Manela, who heads the county's anti-poverty programs in the Health and Human Services Department.

Eliminating health and human service programs "will have a significant impact on public safety (because) many social services are oriented toward preventing crime," Manela said. "There is likely to be an impact on other aspects of the criminal justice system, including the courts, if law enforcement becomes more involved with situations that could have been prevented through human services."

District Attorney Doug Harcleroad, meanwhile, cautioned that in the current budget climate, increased crime won't mean increased prosecution or jail time.

Cutting four attorney positions from his staff - two will come from already vacant positions that haven't been rehired - will mean the loss of 8,000 hours of prosecution time, "and that means a bunch of cases will go by the boards," Harcleroad said. "We will be focusing a lot more on plea bargains to settle cases without going to court, just to get rid of them."

Another outcome will be "ratcheting down the consequences for crimes" in Lane County as well as the rest of the state, he said. Many crimes traditionally handled through the court system, such as drug possession, shoplifting and theft, could become violations handled by a citation and a fine, he said.

"This is a sad state of affairs to be in," Harcleroad said. "But all I can do under the circumstances is the best I can, given the cases coming in and the resources coming in."

Other proposed cuts may not be high profile but will still have an impact on residents, officials said. For example, the cut list eliminates $30,000 for sheriff's deputy service in domestic violence cases; $25,000 for county participation in wild animal damage control programs, such as responding to reports of coyotes in developed areas; and $7,500 for public access television.

Also, the five county commissioners could lose the annual $5,000 in funds they use for travel, legislative assistants and office supplies. A few of the other proposed cuts include elimination of burglary investigation, the resident sheriff's deputy position in Florence and a drug lab investigation service.

WHAT'S NEXT

County administrator to present 2003-04 budget message

When/where: April 29, 6:15 p.m., Harris Hall, 125 E. Eighth Ave. in downtown Eugene; public hearing follows at 6:45 p.m.

Budget preview: Visit county commissioners office in Public Service Building adjacent to Harris Hall, or on the Internet at www.lanecounty.org/