Susan Valot
May 26, 2009
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There's no doubt that budget cuts are coming for California cities and counties. With the economy flat, sales tax and property tax revenue is down. They'll be talking numbers in Orange County during a county budget workshop this Friday. KPCC's Susan Valot says with the state budget in question, there'll be lots to talk about.

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Susan Valot: Orange County's budget director wants to cut the county budget for the next fiscal year by 18 percent. That would bring it down to five-and-a-half-billion dollars.

To do that, it could mean the elimination of more than 400 county positions, many in the sheriff's department and district attorney's office. County Budget Director Frank Kim says so far, they're taking a "wait and see" approach when it comes to cuts the state could make.

Frank Kim: If you look at the governor's proposal, he makes reductions to programs that he's proposed those same cuts before and they've not materialized. An example is IHSS – In-Home Health Support Services. The governor has proposed rolling back those hourly rates, back to state minimum wage.

That's been proposed at least two or three other times and it's never held. So the challenge for us is we can't take those kinds of reductions and build 'em into our budget now because we don't know ultimately what the amount could be.

Valot: County departments will get together with the public this week to talk about potential cuts. Next month, county supervisors will hold a couple of days of budget hearings before they decide which cuts to make.