Good news is relative and El Dorado County officials took some satisfaction this week that the county is in better fiscal shape than some neighboring jurisdictions.
After months of layoffs, furloughs and cuts in services, staff members said the county should be able to avoid further layoffs this fiscal year, despite projected budget shortfalls in the District Attorney's Office and Development Services Department.
General fund revenue is expected to exceed budget by $1.4 million when the fiscal year ends June 30.
District Attorney Vern Pierson said his office faces a potential $145,000 shortfall because of nine complicated, high-profile prosecutions, including those of Phillip and Nancy Garrido, accused of kidnapping and raping Jaycee Dugard, and of teenagers Steven Colver and Tylar Witt, in a murder case involving the death of Witt's mother.
Because of the caseload, Pierson said, "We're looking at having to stop prosecuting cases like driving on a suspended license." Such cases, he said, might have to be treated as infractions to be handled in traffic court.
Pierson said he hoped to close the budget gap before the fiscal year ends without resorting to such measures.
The board Tuesday authorized the transfer of $500,000 in general fund revenue to cover the Development Services Department's projected budget shortfall. Development Services Director Roger Trout said the gap is due primarily to the continuing decline in new construction.
The county recouped nearly $6.4 million in property tax revenue that the state had diverted to balance its budget. El Dorado County participated in a bond issue to secure the monies owed by the state. Because of questions about whether the transaction would occur, those funds were not included in the budget the board adopted in September.
Jere Copeland, executive director of the El Dorado County Employees Association, argued that some of the money should be used to compensate employees who agreed to furloughs and other concessions because they believed they were necessary to balance the 2009-10 budget.
But Auditor-Controller Joe Harn told the supervisors that because of furloughs and other cost-cutting measures, "there's not a long list of layoffs before you today."
