Letter: EDC supes, CAO not dealing with budget
To the community,
On Sept. 30, 2014, the [El Dorado County] Ad Hoc Budget Committee was formed to address a serious budget shortfall of about $18 million. The committee had two open volunteer positions from outside the government. In the hope of learning how the system works, I applied and was accepted as a committee member. The first meeting was in December. Joe Harn outlined the seriousness of the task and Larry Weitzman offered the most likely solution. Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Pamela Knorr directed the meetings and she and Laura Schwartz gave a capsule look at the budget process.
The next meeting Pamela and [Supervisor] Brian Veerkamp directed the group into first developing an “Eldorado County Budget Policies” paper. This took four months (four meetings). No attempt was made with this committee to determine what cuts needed to be made to get to a balanced budget, in spite of the concerns of Joe and Larry.
At the recent Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting on April 28 [Supervisor] Ron Mikulaco expressed concern that the Ad Hoc Budget Committee did not get to the cuts necessary to balance the budget that he thought was its expressed purpose. I, too, thought the purpose of the committee was to deal with the problem, but unfortunately I did not fully understand how the process works and had even less control of county activities.
The CAO working with staff appears to dictate what the budget will be. Per the CAO, the elected BOS only deals with policy issues, not the specific issues that deal with the budget crisis. Pamela made it clear on the April 28 review that she has the duty to recommend an annual budget. The one proposed is $10 million short and reduces some senior programs that no supervisors want cut. On top of that she basically said to the BOS, stay out of my sand box. She will present a budget on June 30, which we already know will carry the deficit over until the 2016-17 budget and beyond. [Supervisor] Shiva Frentzen is not happy with the lack of cooperation.
It appears to me that the tough decisions are being postponed by endless studies. Since Pamela is not making the tough calls, I would hope that the BOS could step in and meet with the department heads directly and solve the problem. Pamela quickly squelched that idea by quoting policy 304C that gives the CAO the power to develop the budget, plus she stated that she does not want to be bothered by the Ad Hoc Committee in this process. On that point I agree, if we cannot deal with the budget issues, then the committee is not serving the purpose I believe it was created for.
Policy 304 also states that the “CAO shall be responsible to the BOS for the proper and efficient administration of such of the affairs of the county”… Proper and efficient is not a $10 million deficit. Perhaps the CAO should be reminded that her position is temporary, and not balancing the budget has consequences.
[Supervisors] Mike Ranalli and Sue Novasel recommended “patience”. Joe Harn, our auditor–controller, is predicting dire consequences from the lack of action on cutting spending. Who do you believe? We need more than two supervisors, willing to take charge of the county.
Paul Freeman, Cameron Park
These bumbling bureaucrats should all be swept out the door, as they are clearly not capable of fixing the problem they created. More tax increases and higher taxes are not an acceptable solution.
It has been reported in Lake Tahoe News that the CAO and the Board of Supervisors intend to raise every fee they can. They intend to raise the snow removal tax. They aren’t going to cut spending. They are going to raise taxes. They hired a bunch of new people and gave everybody a 15 percent raise. Now the County’s residents need to pay for it.
The previous CAO’s crony is continuing her combative dysfunctional ways and the tax payers are going to pay the bill for her to leave. This is all part of what happened with Daly being appointed, despite dire warnings, and her circle of cronies coming with her and now the mess left behind. How to fix it and what to do is what is lacking and the Board has two votes to take action and needs a third. Start by replacing Knorr before she does anything else to cause trouble is my suggestion and then start the process of stabilizing the budget.
To the Board of Supervisors of El Dorado County California, repeat after me “You are fired”
Mr. Freeman’s letter is much appreciated.
I have seen a similara situation before in private companies. I believe the BOS is paralyzed by the situation that they (at least 3 of them anyway) created. They are obviously frightened by Pamela Knorr as they were Daly and are unwilling to take the actions necessary to run the county as it should be run. What have these two EMPLOYEES had (or what do they still have) on the BOS that scares them so much?
Put simply, I believe the current BOS is unwilling to personally work hard enough on the budget crisis to resolve it. It probably is something to do with staying in politics .
If this board would step up and do something definitive, they would see a rush of confidence and adulation from the voters that would be something to behold. It should insure your re-election to whatever your heart desires on a local basis.
I am disappointed, Mrs. Novasel. There has been far too much patience already applied. You were seated in a hornets nest that you probably did not expect, and I am sorry for that, but you were elected to lead, not to sit on your hands and provide platitudes, and I am rapidly losing any confidence in your ability or intent.
Why did I vote for you? Thinking back to that campaign, I was voting for what seemed a lesser evil. Clearly I now believe all of us who elected you were mislead. You need to begin to apply your vaunted collaborative, negotiating and consensus building skills to get three Sups on the same page. This page should not include letting the CAO continue to badger you into pursuing this race to economic disaster. You do not have a lot of time.
It’s time for the Board of Supervisors to step up and do the job they were elected to do. The county budget is headed headlong into a train wreck and the BOS isn’t doing anything to prevent it! There is NO PLAN! You board of Supervisors need to stop twiddling your thumbs and fix this!!!