SAN BERNARDINO – The $4.8 billion budget passed by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday closes a $21 million gap caused mainly by state and federal takeaways, including $9.7 million for prison realignment.
The shortfall was filled mainly through concessions with some of its labor unions that included members picking up 7 percent of their retirement previously paid by the county, as well as up to a 50 percent reduction in annual step increases.
“Our employee groups to date, other than one exception, have all have ceded to that request and have entered into contracts,” county Chief Executive Officer Greg Devereaux said during his budget presentation on Tuesday. “They helped maintain the services levels in this county from dropping to the point where we thought they would have jeopardized our underlying economy.”
The San Bernardino Public Employees Association, which represents nearly 12,000 county employees, has been the only holdout. More than 6,000 union members voted down the contract on May 29, and many members, fed up with SBPEA’s representation, are pushing to join Service Employees International Union Local 721.
The county’s proposed contract with SBPEA was sent out to members again for a second vote, and ballots will be counted today.
Should the county not get the necessary concessions from SBPEA, drastic cuts will need to be made to essential programs and services, primarily law enforcement, according to a county news release.
Funding is already lacking to fully staff the newly expanded High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto in the wake of prison realignment, which has funneled thousands of typically prison-bound inmates into county jails instead. Though $11.5 million has been allocated in the 2014-12015 budget for the staffing of 222 beds at the jail, full staffing has been delayed until 2019.
“Ideally, we would have been staffing that jail today. We need those jail cells today,” Devereaux said.
Devereaux characterized the budget as a “two steps forward, one and a half steps back” budget, given the economic downturn that caused the county to fall behind in funding its infrastructure projects, pensions, and basic services. It prompted a 50 percent cut to all non-public safety general fund departments and elimination of funding for community projects.
In addition, the county still falls far short in code enforcement officers and sheriff’s deputies in the county’s unincorporated areas.
While the budget, which returns to the board on Tuesday for adoption, manages to build up 13.8 percent in reserves, it still falls below the desired 20 percent needed to maintain the county’s good credit rating, to fund large projects, and to have funds available in case of emergencies.
“The general purpose reserve is the emergency reserve, and it really should only be used for emergencies,” Devereaux said. “When we have an earthquake we will need this pot of money available.”