Orange County cuts 210 workers

Not since the county's 1994 bankruptcy, when nearly 2,000 workers lost their jobs, has Orange County been in such financial straits, a result of shrinking sales tax revenue, falling property values and reduced state funding.

County officials, who still have the option to change or withdraw the plan, would not say when they will implement it. They are scheduled to meet with union officials Friday to discuss the cuts but have given no indication that they will change their plans.

The lost workers and forced furloughs would have an immediate effect on some of the county's neediest. Officials say many of the affected workers process welfare applications and that people applying for public assistance could expect longer lines and longer waits.

Local governments throughout the state have been forced to cut costs and eliminate jobs as a result of the recession, which has eroded consumer spending and the value of real estate. But Orange County is the first large county in Southern California to propose mass layoffs of workers, a move they predict may ripple across other counties in the coming year.

So far, officials in Los Angeles have been forced to take only modest steps to tighten budgets -- a hiring freeze, construction work delays -- but fear that the same problems plaguing their neighbor to the south could surface in L.A. County in the coming year.

"What Orange County is going through may foreshadow our situation if the governor and the Legislature cut any more social services," said Miguel Santana, deputy chief executive in charge of social services in Los Angeles County.

In the Inland Empire, which has been among the hardest hit areas in the nation in terms of unemployment and falling property tax revenue, neither Riverside County nor San Bernardino County has ordered widespread layoffs. Instead, budget cuts have been ordered, hiring freezes initiated and early retirement packages offered.

"We have always been fanatical in terms of avoiding layoffs," said David Wert, spokesman for San Bernardino County. "We don't want to send people away without a job."