A System Undone
By Bobby Green
Lane County Board Vice-Chair
Over the last several months, we’ve been making a series of decisions - each bringing us closer to the adoption of a financial plan for the coming fiscal year.
While we have recommendations for a balanced budget, I am concerned that there’s been a collective “sigh of relief”. That we’ve dodged the bullet, avoided a catastrophe, and magically found needed revenue to bring back important community services such as animal services, 24-hour patrol; and services to our youth, infants, and young mothers.
Although we were able to restore some critical services at limited levels, our organization has absorbed yet another round of significant and devastating cuts. We haven’t spared our community, employees or the organization from drastic reductions in service or, in some areas, complete elimination of service.
We’ve lost another 8 percent of our workforce. The Sheriff’s Office alone took a 22 percent cut to its operations, losing another 92 positions and laying off another 57 people this week.
We’ve lost the 100-bed Forest Work Camp, a program which trained inmates in specialized skills to assist them in developing solid work habits, pride in accomplishing goals, and building their self-esteem. These programs directly benefited the community and helped inmates become more responsible citizens upon release. In fact, each year an average of 1,000 offenders provided more than 50,000 hours of community service through Lane County’s alternative corrections programs.
We’ve also reduced community corrections by 60 beds, leaving only 93 beds available for local offenders at the jail. This leaves us with less than one-tenth of the jail capacity a jurisdiction our size should have.
Because of these reductions to our already devastated system, most offenders will serve less than 20 percent of their jail sentences and many will be released immediately without serving any time at all. Inmates who would normally be held accountable for their crimes will be released without consequence for the harm they have caused.
So why take our funding problems out on our public safety system? Public Safety absorbs approximately 65 percent of the County General Fund, the only money the commissioners have complete discretion to direct.
With the loss of $20 million of Secure Rural Schools funding (which makes up nearly one-third of our General Fund revenue), we could not hold the public safety system intact.
Even if all of the General Fund was spent on public safety (totally eliminating County funding of Elections, Assessment and Taxation, Human Resources, Payroll, Commissioners and Administration, Information Services, and Health and Human Services) it still would not be enough to return public safety to even 1981 levels.
And what’s more, we don’t have the ability to eliminate funding for mandated services such as Elections and Assessment and Taxation.
By swapping one-time Road Fund revenue for General Fund revenue with the cities of Eugene and Springfield, and dipping into very limited reserves, we’ve managed to lessen some of the short-term harm to public safety. However, we’re still forced to make most of the cuts and we’ll once again be making reductions in 2010-11 if the County revenue does not improve.
I share this with you to raise awareness of the significant role that county government plays in our daily lives. We’ve mitigated losses to the extent we can. This is an amazing community. I want it to stay that way.
In the coming month, the Board of Commissioners will review recommendations from the Budget Committee before final budget adoption. I’m issuing a challenge to the community: Stay involved. Throughout this year’s budget process, we had more public involvement than in years past. It was encouraging, insightful and helped our Budget Committee make informed recommendations. Community participation is critical to this process, especially when others provide support and workable solutions.
We’ve nearly completed our budget process but we’ll continue to reap the effects of this budget far into the future. What will become of our community when we’re unable to meet the demand to protect and serve? Time will tell.
Our public safety system is undone. It is no longer a system capable of meeting the needs of the community we serve. I know that we cannot fix it alone. Whatever the solution is, I hope to continue seeing the community’s involvement as we grapple with a system failure that will impact us all.
By Bobby Green
Lane County Board Vice-Chair
Over the last several months, we’ve been making a series of decisions - each bringing us closer to the adoption of a financial plan for the coming fiscal year.
While we have recommendations for a balanced budget, I am concerned that there’s been a collective “sigh of relief”. That we’ve dodged the bullet, avoided a catastrophe, and magically found needed revenue to bring back important community services such as animal services, 24-hour patrol; and services to our youth, infants, and young mothers.
Although we were able to restore some critical services at limited levels, our organization has absorbed yet another round of significant and devastating cuts. We haven’t spared our community, employees or the organization from drastic reductions in service or, in some areas, complete elimination of service.
We’ve lost another 8 percent of our workforce. The Sheriff’s Office alone took a 22 percent cut to its operations, losing another 92 positions and laying off another 57 people this week.
We’ve lost the 100-bed Forest Work Camp, a program which trained inmates in specialized skills to assist them in developing solid work habits, pride in accomplishing goals, and building their self-esteem. These programs directly benefited the community and helped inmates become more responsible citizens upon release. In fact, each year an average of 1,000 offenders provided more than 50,000 hours of community service through Lane County’s alternative corrections programs.
We’ve also reduced community corrections by 60 beds, leaving only 93 beds available for local offenders at the jail. This leaves us with less than one-tenth of the jail capacity a jurisdiction our size should have.
Because of these reductions to our already devastated system, most offenders will serve less than 20 percent of their jail sentences and many will be released immediately without serving any time at all. Inmates who would normally be held accountable for their crimes will be released without consequence for the harm they have caused.
So why take our funding problems out on our public safety system? Public Safety absorbs approximately 65 percent of the County General Fund, the only money the commissioners have complete discretion to direct.
With the loss of $20 million of Secure Rural Schools funding (which makes up nearly one-third of our General Fund revenue), we could not hold the public safety system intact.
Even if all of the General Fund was spent on public safety (totally eliminating County funding of Elections, Assessment and Taxation, Human Resources, Payroll, Commissioners and Administration, Information Services, and Health and Human Services) it still would not be enough to return public safety to even 1981 levels.
And what’s more, we don’t have the ability to eliminate funding for mandated services such as Elections and Assessment and Taxation.
By swapping one-time Road Fund revenue for General Fund revenue with the cities of Eugene and Springfield, and dipping into very limited reserves, we’ve managed to lessen some of the short-term harm to public safety. However, we’re still forced to make most of the cuts and we’ll once again be making reductions in 2010-11 if the County revenue does not improve.
I share this with you to raise awareness of the significant role that county government plays in our daily lives. We’ve mitigated losses to the extent we can. This is an amazing community. I want it to stay that way.
In the coming month, the Board of Commissioners will review recommendations from the Budget Committee before final budget adoption. I’m issuing a challenge to the community: Stay involved. Throughout this year’s budget process, we had more public involvement than in years past. It was encouraging, insightful and helped our Budget Committee make informed recommendations. Community participation is critical to this process, especially when others provide support and workable solutions.
We’ve nearly completed our budget process but we’ll continue to reap the effects of this budget far into the future. What will become of our community when we’re unable to meet the demand to protect and serve? Time will tell.
Our public safety system is undone. It is no longer a system capable of meeting the needs of the community we serve. I know that we cannot fix it alone. Whatever the solution is, I hope to continue seeing the community’s involvement as we grapple with a system failure that will impact us all.