San Diego— San Diego County employees today addressed the San Diego County Board of Supervisors about the layoff of County employees proposed by the Board. The Board voted unanimously to layoff 27 of employees in Aging and Independent Services and Planning and Land Use, although many of these employees were placed within other positions in the County.

Employees addressed the Board and asked them to look at alternatives to layoffs to solve the County’s $80 million budget deficit.

The alternative budget solutions proposed by the employees included:

• Halting the use of Board discretionary funds and using those funds to preserve services.
• Placing a moratorium on vendor and contractor expenditures until the economy improves.
• Reducing management bonuses and travel expenses and the Supervisors auto allowance.
• Establishing an ad-hoc committee of County employees, service providers, clients, non-profits, and County management to recommend cost saving ideas.
• Approving the use of some of the County’s reserves to preserve services.

“We are grateful for the effort the County made to place the employees impacted by these layoffs,” SEIU Local 221 President Sharon-Frances Moore said. “However, with the projections that the economy will get worse, we have to ensure the County is exploring every avenue to solve the budget deficit before cutting jobs and services. In these dire economic times, it is critical now more than ever that San Diego residents have access to the essential services they need to weather this crisis.”