Fresno County will work with a $1.7 billion dollar budget this year. That's $16 million less than last year. When it came to adopting this budget, one thing was clear.
Supervisor Phil Larson says public safety has to be a top priority. "65 sheriff's deputies, they have to be there. We need 13 attorneys in the DA's office. They have to be there. They need some investigators."
The county is only expecting about 10 to 15 layoffs, but residents may notice the impact. Service calls from the Sheriff's office could take longer. Delays in service from public health are expected. Parks may go unattended. Road maintenance could take a while as well, and the DA's office could have a hard time getting to cases. Chief Assistant District Attorney Kelly Keenan says staff is already down about 28%. "If staff is less, then it takes longer to do things, more effort, more hours you have to work, can't get to things quickly, longer to get cases through the court system."
Supervisors say they'll have to make some adjustments once the state passes it's budget. But in case the state falters, the county set aside about $4 million for back up. Supervisor Henry Perea voted against passing this budget. He says that $4 million back up will get eaten up. Perea says about $4 million will accumulate in deficits because of conflicts with assumed salary reductions. "In theory it's not a balanced budget that we approved. It looks balanced on paper, but in reality it's not."
TXT 24
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