Supervisors Invite Comment on Budget

Members of the public will get a chance Monday night to tell Ventura County supervisors how to handle next year’s budget and the county’s projected $17.8-million gap between tax income and spending.

The public comment session will run from 6 to 10 p.m. in the Board of Supervisors chamber at the County Government Center, 800 S. Victoria Ave., Ventura.

Testimony from the public will follow daylong hearings before the board by county department heads beginning at 9 a.m.

The final budget hearings on the county’s $870-million spending plan for fiscal year 1997-98 will continue every day until the board adopts a final budget.

County budget officials say the deficit can be eliminated with a 9% across-the-board cut to county agencies. Public-safety agencies and the courts are immune to spending cuts under county ordinance.

With the county auditor and chief administrator calling for the panel to drop its reliance on emergency reserves to balance the budget, the board is facing the need to approve sharp spending cutbacks and layoffs. Fifty-five percent of the county’s operating budget is spent on staff salaries, and the board has little choice but to reduce personnel costs.