Yuba County budget: Layoffs would close gap
WHAT: Yuba County Board of Supervisors, presentation of proposed 2012-13 county budget.
WHEN: 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
WHERE: Yuba County Government Center board chambers, 915 Eighth St., Marysville.
Yuba County faces a $1.6 million general fund deficit for 2012-13, with layoffs necessary in order to close the gap, according to chief County Administrator Robert Bendorf.
A projected upswing in property taxes and general fines is somewhat offset by probably less money from garbage tipping fees and continuing drops in property taxes, as well as continued uncertainty about the final state budget. "What we originally forecast in January, for the most part, held true," Bendorf said Monday, ahead of a formal presentation on the projected budget to county supervisors today.
Because of the deficit, Bendorf's budget recommendations include layoffs of eight employees, most of them in the Community Development and Services Agency, which has seen less activity in recent years owing to the reduction in countywide development.
However, the county would also add some other positions in the agency, three of them temporary, meaning the net layoffs are three.
As well, the county will use about $523,000 from contingencies, $200,000 less than in 2011-12, and no reserve monies to fill the deficit.
Bendorf said the county expects to receive about $250,000 less in garbage disposal fees because Nevada County will stop bringing its trash to the Ostrom Road landfill later this year. The county also continues to see less property tax revenues, he said, though the number of building permits in 2011-12 will exceed the previous fiscal year.
The county's overall General Fund budget of $24.4 million is $5 million smaller than just four years ago, but only about $230,000 less than in 2011-12. Still, Bendorf said, he's not sure the county's hit bottom yet.
"It's hard for me to believe it's bottom, considering counties are an arm of the state, and the state's budget situation is still so precarious," he said.
Yuba County will also have to deal with a mid-year budget hit of about $200,000 from a 16.5 percent hike in health insurance premiums approved last week by the state Public Employees' Retirement System, he said.
After Bendorf's presentation, supervisors are scheduled to set budget workshops in August, and hearings for final adoption in late September.
CONTACT Ben van der Meer at bvandermeer@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4786. Find him on Facebook at /ADbvandermeer or on Twitter at @ADbvandermeer
