The closure of a high-profile juvenile treatment facility, the Sacramento County Boys Ranch. Dozens more layoffs in the already-embattled Child Protective Services division. And the sheriff’s department? Well, just ask Kevin Mickelson with the deputies’ union about the proposed $55 million in cuts.
Mickelson: “You would have to completely disband patrol services, completely disband investigative services – we’d have no detectives – and an additional 100 deputies at both of the jails. It’s – it’s not even attainable.”
But Interim County Executive Steven Szalay says the current proposals are just starting points – based on an equal distribution of cuts to every department.
Szalay: “When my final recommendation comes out, it won’t be equitable across the organization. I don’t think that’s the right way to do things. It’ll be mixed.”
Szalay says he’ll look for different ways of doing business, like shifting functions to the private or non-profit sectors … and the final cuts will be based on what’s achievable and what has the least impact on services. County supervisors will have the final say; budget hearings are set for mid-June.