Staffing woes dominate Sonoma County government budget talks

Top Sonoma County government administrators say employee burnout and mounting vacancies are clouding the budget outlook for their departments, complicating the delivery of essential services including elections, public health and law enforcement.

That was the message raised this week in budget workshops hosted by the Board of Supervisors, where 26 county departments presented preliminary budgets and submitted spending requests to be finalized in the board’s June budget hearings.

The county’s 2022-23 budget is expected to total $2 billion. Salaries and benefits will cost the county about $793 million, according to the latest projections.

Across the county, vacancies exist in about 12% of the workforce, a much higher share than in any year in recent records, according to Christina Cramer, the county’s personnel chief.

The county’s turnover rate is projected to increase significantly from 9% last year to 11%, Cramer added.

Several departments that work directly with the public, including Health Services and the Clerk-Recorder-Assessor, listed staff shortages and recruitment as key challenges they face going into the next fiscal year.

Over the course of three days, department heads told the Board of Supervisors that the staffing woes were straining employees and driving up overtime.

Tina Rivera, the health services director, noted her department has struggled to fill critical clinical roles as well as positions in behavioral health, the division overseeing mental health services and substance abuse treatment. The department has struggled to compete against the private sector in attracting new employees, she said.

“Our salaries do not come close to what others are offering,” Rivera said.

Health care and retirement benefits for county employees, among other forms of compensation, often rival those in the private sector, however.

The Health Services presentation outlined 14 additional full-time behavioral health employees for fiscal year 2022-23, bringing the department total to 596 full-time employees.

But the department, one of the largest in the county, and funded primarily by state and federal dollars, anticipates a $10.7 million budget reduction, largely due to a decline in programs tied to the coronavirus pandemic.

For the upcoming fiscal year $148.2 million is expected to come from state and federal funding, $11.6 million from fees and service charges and $8.5 million from the county’s general fund.

Other department heads, including Sonoma County Clerk-Recorder-Assessor Deva Proto and Garrick Byers, interim director for the county’s Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Oversight, echoed Rivera’s concerns.

Byers said understaffing was hampering his office, particularly in its outreach work.

“Short staffing has been a problem with IOLERO mostly throughout its existence,” Byers said. “I’m hopeful that the staff that I’m recruiting, I’m hopeful they’ll stay longer.”

Department vacancies are rising countywide, according to the county’s personnel chief.

In addition to an increase in voluntary resignations, county departments also are dealing with a 30% drop in applications, Cramer, the county’s head of human resources, said Wednesday.

Cramer estimated the county is facing about 500 vacant positions out of its approximately 4,000 person workforce, meaning employees across departments are having to fill the gaps. She said her department is expected to recruit for about 450 positions this year.

“This means staff are strained,” Cramer said. “There are feelings of stress and anxiety and fatigue.”

The challenges are likely to come up during the June budget hearings as several departments have requested the board allocate funding for additional positions. But those discussions will fall against the backdrop of inflation and looming negotiations.

Contracts with all of the county’s represented labor groups will be expiring in the next year and a half, Christina Rivera, assistant county administrator, told the board.

“It’s important to keep in mind that challenging timing,” Rivera said as she prepared the board to consider department budget proposals.

Peter Bruland, deputy county administrator, said Monday that the expiring contracts clouded the county’s long-term financial projections, but he noted the recommended $2 billion budget for 2020-23 does not rely on savings from prior years to achieve balance.

The budget is a 3.2% increase over the county’s current budget, driven primarily by one-time capital projects at Transportation and Public Works, and staffing costs, including the new hires for the behavioral health unit.

The general fund, the main source of discretionary dollars, made up primarily by property tax revenue, accounts for $556 million of the projected spending plan, a 4.2% increase over the present year, according to county staff. It primarily supports the county’s law and justice and administrative services departments.

The Sheriff’s Office, one of the largest of those departments, is requesting a $13.6 million budget increase mainly due to salary and benefit increases. The number of full-time employees, 628, is expected to remain the same.

Assistant Sheriff Jim Naugle noted the department has also struggled with understaffing and overtime.

Budget hearings are set to begin June 14.

You can reach Staff Writer Emma Murphy at 707-521-5228 or emma.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MurphReports.