County wields budget ax

On Tuesday, the Alpine Board of Supervisors plunged into the murky waters of public finance, with the objective of coming out with a budget that would keep the county afloat for this fiscal year. Before an audience comprised of county staff and several members of the public, the board reviewed budget requests from the various departments covering 111 categories, many of which contained several line items. For the rest of that day and for the following two days, the board and staff worked to close the shortfall that would remain, even after considering the board's decision to lay off several employees in an emergency session the week before. After some 20 hours of deliberation, preceded by many hours of study of the tentative budget presented by the county administrative officer, Pamela Knorr, they approved a balanced budget. However action on most of the requests from the departments for such special one time requests as new computers or vehicle upgrades was postponed until a comprehensive review of the collective needs in that category was done.

Members of the board demonstrated a keen understanding of the budget elements and the consequences of their actions, but none were happy with the outcome, knowing that several employees have to be let go in order for the county to operate with a serious reduction in revenues. Supervisor Skip Veatch said "It hurt to have to do that." He said that the board would hold a mid-year review of the county's fiscal situation and make adjustments as needed. He expressed hope that the state of California and the federal government would make more funds available than currently anticipated and that some of the employee cuts could be restored.

During an interview with Knorr, she explained that one position was restored during the budget session, that being a position to be shared between the auditor/controller's office and the treasurer/tax collector/recorder's office. However Bessie Platten's position as head of the county library was eliminated. Knorr plans to arrange to share library services with another county. The status of the position of county engineer remains unresolved.

Knorr expressed regret for the need to downsize

"Alpine County is not immune to these economic hard times that public and private organizations are facing," she said.

Still remaining to occur is the planned consolidation of the building and planning departments with those departments sharing some support staff with the department of public works.

The three units are expected to be located in the current offices of the public works department, though to this observer, the space needs of the building department and the pla nning department appear to be greater than would be available.

It will be several weeks before the county organization adjusts to the budget cuts and personnel changes. We will be reporting on this process once the dust clears.