Bob's Update - May 26, 2009

These will be extremely busy and important days coming up, centered on engaging the Board, you, and the public around our 2010/11 budget adjustment recommendations. 
 
I have given overviews of my recommendations in several small group meetings with Commissioners in preparation for the Wednesday, June 3rd Ways & Means meeting.  And I will be sharing them with County leadership at the Group of 180 this Friday, the 29th.  Next week's Update on June 1 will focus on these recommendations, as will our ongoing public engagement forums after the public meeting on June 3rd

• Deficit Reduction Ranges in the Four Strategic Areas: Throughout this budget process I've said there is no silver bullet - no one solution to solve this problem.  We must adjust the budget from four different strategic areas, understanding that any change we make in one area will impact the others as we go forward. The following are the ranges for each of those four areas.
  
• • $12-$14 Million - Employee benefits and compensation
    These make up more than 60% of our expenses and will need to be part of any adjustment plan
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  • $7-$10 Million - Departmental budget adjustments
    Directors have already helped here with an understanding of how their departments could operate with 5%, 10% and 20% reductions to their budgets
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  • $3-$7 Million - Structural adjustments
    Possible changes to the way we're organized and how we deliver services that could include reductions greater than 20%, or the elimination of programs.
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  • $3-$5 Million - Revenue Growth and Reform
    Enhance all present revenue opportunities for the services we provide and find, or create, new revenue sources to help offset costs
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• Update on Labor:  Last week, I sent a letter to the 17 unions representing more than 80% of our employees. I asked them how we will proceed to work together to identify $12-$14 million in employee benefits and compensation necessary to resolve the County's projected $26 million deficit. Dialogue with the unions on this crucial part of the budget process will be ongoing.
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• 2009 1st Quarter Report: The Board also will receive an update on this year's 1st quarter revenues at the June 3rd Ways & Means.   Unfortunately we've taken some hard, unexpected hits and the 2009 projections are worse than initially thought. Beyond the additional loss of property taxes, and an increase in our medical expenses, we also lost more than $1 million in tax revenue in the settlement of the Pfizer appeal.  I'm confident that we can address this additional shortfall quickly with my recommendations that will be included in the June 3rd resolution.

This budget process, long, painstaking and unprecedented for this organization, will hit a major milestone next Wednesday with my recommendations.  We still have a lot of ground to cover, and our course forward relies on changing, often unpredictable economic shifts. 

I do come back to one unchanging part of the equation, something I rely on: your ability to keep informed on all this and still maintain your positive connection to the people who need County services.

Thank you again for that.

Please remember you can get in touch with me anytime personally, here as a comment, or by email.

Bob