Faced with a $36-million budget shortfall, Ventura County government managers are asking taxpayers to accept a host of painful cuts, from eliminating hot meals for homebound seniors to putting fewer police on patrol.
What's not on the table are cuts in labor costs -- even though higher wages and benefits for county government's 8,000 employees are a major reason the Hall of Administration is in financial straits.
More than half of the 2004-05 budget gap results from spiraling labor costs, according to county budget managers. Higher wages, healthcare and pension costs have boosted employee compensation $20 million higher than available revenue, managers say.
That bothers Don Facciano, executive director of the Ventura County Taxpayers Assn. Facciano believes the county could save jobs -- and the services they provide -- by instituting money-saving tactics regularly used in the private sector.
"In business, our biggest controllable expense is payroll," said Facciano, a former Sears, Roebuck & Co. manager. "So if you're going to do anything substantial, it's going to have to come from payroll."
To save money, county managers should propose such things as work furloughs and restrictions on vacation buy-back programs and even renegotiate promised raises, he said.
"Why not ask employees to take a one-week furlough or a couple of days without pay?" Facciano said. "That's negotiable. If you add up a million here and a million there, all of a sudden it gets serious."
Managers should also consider privatizing some services and take a close look at all contracts to see if more dollars can be shaved, Facciano said.
But county leaders say it's not that easy. What works in the private sector is harder to achieve in government because of employee protections and the complexities of bureaucracy.
About 90% of county government employees are unionized and their contracts can't be touched unless members agree to reopen them, said County Executive Officer Johnny Johnston.
"We have 10 unions, and there is no way to guarantee that if one union gives something back that they will save employees in their unit," Johnston said. "They are reluctant to do it for the common good because everyone is scrapping for resources."
So far, Johnston has not proposed cutting the wages of managers, either. But in a resolution that he intends to bring before the Board of Supervisors, they won't be getting cost-of-living raises, the county chief said.
