Yuba County to ax 20 positions

Plummeting revenues due to the construction slowdown will lead to layoff notices for eight Yuba County employees and the deletion of 12 vacant positions.

County supervisors will review the proposal Tuesday.

"The dropoff in construction being experienced in Yuba County and throughout the nation pretty much dictated what had to be done to keep our budget solvent," said County Administrator Robert Bendorf.

Last June, supervisors eliminated 60 positions — 53 vacancies and seven layoffs.

The county has about 1,000 positions.

Jobs of three planners and a clerical worker in the Planning Department, a permit technician and assistant planner in Building Inspection, an office assistant in the Community Development and Services Agency and a clerical worker for Environmental Health will end Feb. 27, said Assistant County Administrator Randy Margo.

A dozen vacant positions in those departments as well as Health Services and the county surveyor would be deleted under the proposal.

Efforts will be made to find the employees positions in other county departments or local government agencies, Margo said.

Supervisor Mary Jane Griego said she's concerned about losing planning jobs that she believes will be needed when the building slump ends.

"Why let go of so many people? Griego asked. "We really need to be prepared."

"I just find it difficult to lay off this many people at once," she said.

Margo said Griego's concerns about Yuba County being ready when the region and national economy recover are well taken — and addressed with $202,541 proposed for the Planning Department to continue to provide the core of planning-related services, which county policy has said should be paid for with development fees.

Layoffs could not be avoided, however, Margo said, even with the additional planning funds.

A financial report by the county administrator for Tuesday's meeting cites a sharp drop in building fees in the first half of the fiscal year. Yuba County received $487,525, compared to $1.6 million for the same period last year.

Single-family unit permits issued by the Building Department in the first six months of this fiscal year totaled 42 compared to 223 permits for the same period last year.

Griego noted the development boom that preceded current conditions and that she said was spurred in part by dramatic increases in housing prices in Placer and Sacramento counties. Those increases helped push development into Yuba County, she said.

"We'll never see that again," Griego said of the extraordinary rise in home values in this region and the rest of California. "It was like the stars came together for Yuba County."

Still, Griego said, building will resume and she cited the $150 million proposed Indian casino resort for property outside Olivehurst near the Sleep Train Ampitheatre as one example.

Supervisor John Nicoletti placed some of the blame on legislators in Sacramento.

"State lawmakers look like they're poised to further limit our ability to provide even the most basic services by taxing our funds to fix the problems they created," Nicoletti said.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Ryan McCarthy at 749-4707 or rmccarthy@appeal-democrat.com.