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Welfare could take biggest hit as San Bernardino County officials await word on state cuts
Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
06/04/2009
Amid the rhetoric from Sacramento about deep cuts to close a wide budget deficit, San Bernardino County officials faced with hundreds of millions of dollars in program reductions said Thursday they've been there and heard that.
"We have nothing hard and fast from the state," said David Wert, county spokesman. "There have been too many times in the past where the cuts haven't materialized."
Wert said the county could see $800 million in cuts as state lawmakers seek to close a $24.3 billion state budget deficit.
About $467 million in cuts will occur if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to scrap the state's welfare-to-work program goes through, he said.
The governor's proposal to eliminate CalWORKS - the state's largest cash aid to children and families - would save the state $1.4 billion for 2009-10, and more than $2.4 billion annually thereafter, according to the Department of Finance.
On Oct. 1, when the program would be abolished, more than 1.4 million recipients statewide would lose temporary assistance for food, shelter, clothing and welfare-to-work support services such as child care.
Countywide, more than 102,000 people would be affected, Wert said.
The county pays more than $22 million a month to CalWORKS recipients, with the average family receiving $521 a month, he said.
"You're talking about people who are barely surviving," Wert said. "That (money) is the difference between eating and not
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eating."
Of the estimated 1,100 county employees that could lose their jobs to state cuts, Wert said 873 would be from the CalWORKS program.
If CalWORKS is eliminated, the state also would lose $3.7 billion annually in federal funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, according to the Finance Department.
Still, those that run CalWORKS locally take a wait-and-see attitude about possible cuts.
"These are just proposals, and that's the way we look at them," said Steven Couchot, assistant to the transitional assistance director.
In Los Angeles County, officials say the government could lose $1.5 billion in state revenues, plus an additional $302 million in property-tax revenues the state may seek to borrow from the county. More than 380,000 welfare recipients would be affected by the CalWORKS cut.
Los Angeles County would also lose $109 million earmarked to repair potholes and maintain infrastructure.
Wert said he is concerned about whether lawmakers would require counties to continue such programs without aid from the state, a prospect that could wreck county budgets.
Whether they do or not, the state has no backup plan to help affected welfare recipients.
"As far as an alternative plan from the state that would come in behind CalWORKS, there's nothing," said H.D. Palmer, deputy director of the Finance Department.
Palmer said the CalWORKS cut was not put on the table until May 26, after the governor's visit with President Barack Obama in Washington.
It was then that state officials learned they could not acquire about $5.5 billion in short-term financing they sought from the federal government, Palmer said.
Having returned from Washington on the heels of a special election in which state voters hammered tax propositions in last month's special election, the governor gathered Finance Department officials and told them to come up with another $5.5 billion in cuts, Palmer said.
Among other possible cuts, San Bernardino County could lose $19 million for road construction and repair, $18 million in vehicle license fees that help fund public safety and $77 million for In-Home Supportive Services for families caring for disabled relatives at home.
Of Schwarzenegger's reach to borrow $2 billion in property-tax revenues, about $50 million would come from the county, Wert said.
Although county budget analysts have crunched numbers several times during the state's unfolding budget woes, Wert said officials are hesitant to send them scrambling each time Sacramento blusters about cuts.
"By definition it's a guessing game," Wert said. "It's hard to say how the (Board of Supervisors) will absorb the programs if we see cuts."
Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
06/04/2009
Amid the rhetoric from Sacramento about deep cuts to close a wide budget deficit, San Bernardino County officials faced with hundreds of millions of dollars in program reductions said Thursday they've been there and heard that.
"We have nothing hard and fast from the state," said David Wert, county spokesman. "There have been too many times in the past where the cuts haven't materialized."
Wert said the county could see $800 million in cuts as state lawmakers seek to close a $24.3 billion state budget deficit.
About $467 million in cuts will occur if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to scrap the state's welfare-to-work program goes through, he said.
The governor's proposal to eliminate CalWORKS - the state's largest cash aid to children and families - would save the state $1.4 billion for 2009-10, and more than $2.4 billion annually thereafter, according to the Department of Finance.
On Oct. 1, when the program would be abolished, more than 1.4 million recipients statewide would lose temporary assistance for food, shelter, clothing and welfare-to-work support services such as child care.
Countywide, more than 102,000 people would be affected, Wert said.
The county pays more than $22 million a month to CalWORKS recipients, with the average family receiving $521 a month, he said.
"You're talking about people who are barely surviving," Wert said. "That (money) is the difference between eating and not
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eating."
Of the estimated 1,100 county employees that could lose their jobs to state cuts, Wert said 873 would be from the CalWORKS program.
If CalWORKS is eliminated, the state also would lose $3.7 billion annually in federal funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, according to the Finance Department.
Still, those that run CalWORKS locally take a wait-and-see attitude about possible cuts.
"These are just proposals, and that's the way we look at them," said Steven Couchot, assistant to the transitional assistance director.
In Los Angeles County, officials say the government could lose $1.5 billion in state revenues, plus an additional $302 million in property-tax revenues the state may seek to borrow from the county. More than 380,000 welfare recipients would be affected by the CalWORKS cut.
Los Angeles County would also lose $109 million earmarked to repair potholes and maintain infrastructure.
Wert said he is concerned about whether lawmakers would require counties to continue such programs without aid from the state, a prospect that could wreck county budgets.
Whether they do or not, the state has no backup plan to help affected welfare recipients.
"As far as an alternative plan from the state that would come in behind CalWORKS, there's nothing," said H.D. Palmer, deputy director of the Finance Department.
Palmer said the CalWORKS cut was not put on the table until May 26, after the governor's visit with President Barack Obama in Washington.
It was then that state officials learned they could not acquire about $5.5 billion in short-term financing they sought from the federal government, Palmer said.
Having returned from Washington on the heels of a special election in which state voters hammered tax propositions in last month's special election, the governor gathered Finance Department officials and told them to come up with another $5.5 billion in cuts, Palmer said.
Among other possible cuts, San Bernardino County could lose $19 million for road construction and repair, $18 million in vehicle license fees that help fund public safety and $77 million for In-Home Supportive Services for families caring for disabled relatives at home.
Of Schwarzenegger's reach to borrow $2 billion in property-tax revenues, about $50 million would come from the county, Wert said.
Although county budget analysts have crunched numbers several times during the state's unfolding budget woes, Wert said officials are hesitant to send them scrambling each time Sacramento blusters about cuts.
"By definition it's a guessing game," Wert said. "It's hard to say how the (Board of Supervisors) will absorb the programs if we see cuts."