Colusa is Bracing for Layoffs:
Colusa County is one of only a handful of counties in the state to balance its budget without a second round of layoffs and furloughs, the county's top lawmakers said Thursday.
The Colusa County Board of Supervisors passed a $47 million budget in a special session, after trimming $5 million in funding requests from county departments.
"We had far more requests than revenue coming in," said board Chairman Gary Evans.
Supervisor Kim Dolbow Vann said social and behavioral programs faced the most belt-tightening as a result of state budget cuts.
"Mental health took the biggest hit," she said.
Dolbow Vann said conservative spending by the road and the sheriff's departments this year helped the county fill the hole created when the state pulled the plug on its $750,000 Williamson Act payment to the county and shifted $700,000 under Proposition 1A from special districts to state coffers.
The budget blow was also cushioned by $1.4 million in sales tax revenue generated by the new PG&E plant.
Once the numbers were crunched, the county's $22.6 million general fund was down $200,000 from last year, Evans said. The county tackled the deficit with no money allotted for new vehicles, maintenance, salary increases or new personnel.
The county denied requests for additional personnel in the District Attorney's office, probation office and behavioral health, but approved several grant funded positions in social and behavioral services.
"When the funding goes away, the positions go away," said Auditor-Controller Peggy Scroggins.
Sitting on the county budget committee for the first time since elected supervisor in 2006, Dolbow Vann said the budget process was harrowing, but not as traumatic as she expected in light of the state budget cuts.
"It just means if you're poor, you stay poor," she said.
Colusa County Budget highlights
2009-2010 2008-2009 Sheriff's Department: $3.9 million $4.3 million County Jail $2.7 million $2.7 million Probation $1.4 million $1.5 million Mental health $ 2.9 million $3.7 million Welfare $ 6.9 million $7.3 million Planning & building $ 1 million $1.1 million