{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"KZYX News","title":"Budget crunch still speculative","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/9b057a8f\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":389,"description":"May 2, 2022 — The Board of Supervisors will hold a budget workshop on May 3 to prepare for next month’s third quarter budget hearings. \r\nInflation is up, but revenue seems to be available — if there were enough staff to collect it.\r\nSupervisor Ted Williams gave a preview of tomorrow’s meeting. “We’ve been meeting with each department, and looking at if they have any outside contracts that they can cut, kind of nickels and dimes,”  he said.  “Frankly, I don’t think we’re finding a lot. A lot of those departments already came in with lean budgets. There may be some services that we can halt, but not without a real impact on the services provided to the public.”\r\nPatrick Hickey, the field representative for Local SEIU 1021, which represents most of the county government’s unionized workers, suspects the situation is not quite so dire, and cautions that more information is needed before making big financial decisions. “What their information showed is that the majority of their revenue streams, property taxes, sales taxes, transient occupancy taxes (ToT), are increasing,” he said. “They're projecting that the cannabis tax may drop significantly. So that’s certainly a concern. But they don’t have a handle on it, as far as we can tell, on the numbers and on the data. They still haven’t released their audit from last year, which normally for counties comes out in the fall. So we really need to have a look at that before we start setting our budget for next year.” Hickey especially wants more detailed information about the reserve funds, which he believes are robust. \r\nThe county is in negotiations with all its bargaining units, which always advocate for filling vacant positions with qualified people, and paying them a competitive salary to keep them on the job. Hickey listed a few of the departments he thinks could generate revenue if they were fully staffed. “Environmental health specialists are a fundraiser for the county, basically,” he said. “Positions in the...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/xZpAumwbhFUpJUYcwaQ1-q6snzOyqAm13l7cW6AWPCM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mMzkz/NjAwNjc2OWMyZmFk/YWY2YTdmYjI5M2Mz/YWMxNy5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}