Tag Archives: layoffs

iePolitics: Layoff notices going out to county employees?

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Here is an email I received.  Can anyone provide additional information?

An ECD Specialist I was informed today she is being laid off.  Director, Kathy Thomas informed the employee that another employee with RDA (possibly with less seniority) would be assuming their job duties.  Also, an OA II was given walking papers for the same termination date.

RDA needs to be investigated immediately for unfair labor practices!  They just hired two new employees; also, two employees retired recently (Jan Dustin & Marielena Shorett) and are coming back on contract!  Can we say, ‘double-dipping?’  This is an outrage!

Devereaux is ‘empire building’ with all of his favorite cronies from the City of Ontario, such as Mary Jane Olhasso and Kathy Thomas, just to name a few.

Housing Development employees expect more lay offs to come.

InlandPolitics: S.B. County Budget: No deputy layoffs

Posted on by Administrator
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  • Written by Administrator
  • Posted June 27, 2010 at 10:16 am

www.inlandpolitics.com

Now that the dust has settled over the hoop-la with the San Bernardino County union concession votes, we can see what is slated to occur at tomorrow’s special Board of Supervisors meeting, where the 2010-11 budget is scheduled to be approved.

The pain to be felt by sworn sheriff and district attorney employees who rejected proposed contract concessions? The deletion of vacant budgeted positions and a reduction in overtime.

That’s it.

I’m sure the San Bernardino Public Employees Association and San Bernardino Public Attorneys Association have that warm and fuzzy feeling right about now.

Sorry………

InlandPolitics Commentary: New S.B. County budget assumptions mirror state tactics

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  • Written by Administrator
  • Posted April 20, 2010 at 9:48 am

Information being disseminated by San Bernardino County administrators related to ongoing budget woes is somewhat reminiscent of tactics which have amplified the state’s financial mess.

In an effort to close a purported $90 million deficit for the 2010/11 fiscal year the county is asking employee organizations to come up with approximately $39 million in hard dollar concessions. Continue reading →

iePolitics: I Don’t Know What to Call This Post

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I considered calling it “Baffling with BS,” or “Ramblings of an Imbecile,” or “Donating Fifty Grand to Screw Us Over,” or “This Bologna Sure Makes My Head Hurt,” or any other number of appropriate titles.  “Amazing” might have been the most appropriate except nothing coming from Bob “Chicken Man” Blough amazes me any longer.  I will start an analysis tomorrow after a few aspirin.  For now, I’d like to hear every one’s initial opinions of what SBPEA is trying to do to you this time around.

 

  Continue reading →

iePolitics: The Blog is Wrong Again, Part Two

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I’m reprinting the following story from yesterday’s Lake Arrowhead Mountain News for several reasons.  First, our favorite spin master denied our previous reports that the budget deficit is higher than $90 million.  We have been hearing rumors that San Bernardino County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux has been saying being the scenes that our information is correct, but the county is denying the same to newspaper reporters and the public.  Now, we have some proof, although he is not admitting just how bad it really is.

Second, someone pointed this article out to me for a completely different reason.  If you read the article, it says that the county wants employees to postpone their raises INDEFINITELY.   That is not what the union is telling us.

Third, Supervisor Derry’s explanation of the capping of leave isn’t exactly correct.  Neil, call Jim and have him explain it to you!!!  But my point is not to embarrass Neil but rather to point out something I have learned over the past couple of years and that is board members and their staffs don’t have a clue how things work.  Dean “ah” Arabatzis and Andrew “sc” Lamberto tell them what they think they need to hear, thus controlling their actions.  Seriously, the Administrative Office likes to keep the board members in the dark and the board members half the time don’t even know the real effects of what they are voting on.

From the Lake Arrowhead Mountain News:

County Budget Picture Worsens

By Glenn Barr

With a $90 million budget deficit and likely layoffs looming for next fiscal year, San Bernardino County’s financial picture has worsened in the past few days with the discovery of millions of dollars in unfunded liabilities.

County officials have yet to determine how much money could be owed to employees who have accumulated leave time for which they must eventually be paid, said Chief Administrative Officer Gregory Devereaux, who said he intends to try to figure it out after the new fiscal year begins on July 1.

The problem stems from the fact, he told The Mountain News on Tuesday, that the county has historically never capped the amount of leave time that can be accrued by so-called “exempt” employees, whose jobs are not covered by civil service protection. Continue reading →

InlandPolitics Commentary: Public employee unions should consider layoffs – Part Two

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  • Written by Administrator
  • Posted April 16, 2010 at 8:21 am

I had the opportunity to spend some time yesterday discussing the current San Bernardino County’s budget situation and was able to obtain some feedback on the thinking behind what is happening, and to further explain my point that not reducing the county workforce now, will cause greater pain later.

Let’s face it. Signs of the current economic downturn were visible as early as 2006. I brought up the potential collapse in real estate prices and the effect on the county while working at the Assessor’s office then. I was laughed at by many at the government center.

No one is laughing now. Continue reading →

InlandPolitics Commentary: Public employee unions should consider layoffs

Posted on by Administrator
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  • Written by Administrator
  • Posted April 14, 2010 at 8:28 am

The “800-pound budget gorilla” is in the room for both Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, which is putting their respective employee unions in a critical dilemma.

Push wage and benefit concessions on their members or trigger layoffs. Layoffs cause reductions in union member rolls thus affecting revenue that supports operations.

In mild economic downturns, wage deferrals or not filling vacant positions can be a viable band-aid to get through the problem.

Not this time.

The current collapse in property and sales tax revenue in both counties is devastating, and will continue for some time. San Bernardino County, which has not been as aggressive as Riverside County in reducing its property tax rolls, took a 6% hit last year and is likely to take another hit of at least 9% this year. That’s 15% over two years. Continue reading →

iePolitics: Rumor Control

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Or really lack of rumor control.  As the true budget situation comes to light, rumors of doom and gloom abound.  And who says they are just rumors?

The most recent have to do with Flexible Benefit Dollars, Medical Premium Subsidy, Flex Time, and Retirement.  Most can be found addressed somewhere here on the blog.

Our new County Administrative Officer Greg Devereaux has his fans and his enemies.  When it comes to these issues it seems everyone is expecting him to be a Mark Uffer clone with threats and dirty deals.  I can honestly say I don’t have a good feel for what he will do.  I have asked around and here is what I’ve been told by those who are making educated guesses.  So don’t take any of this to the bank. Continue reading →

iePolitics: We told you so!!!

Posted on by Administrator
10

Seems that the county can no longer afford subsidizing families while taking away health insurance from employees.  We hear that the county has proposed returning to flexible benefits dollars in lieu of the medical premium subsidy, which was Mark Uffer’s and Bob “Chicken Man” Blough’s brilliant plan to conquer and divide the membership so they would have more control.  Continue reading →

iePolitics: The Blogs are Wrong Again!

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We are hearing that the newspapers are calling San Bernardino County’s chief spokesperson, David Wert, to ask about reports on inlandpolitics.com and iepolitics.com that the budget shortfall is much worse than the $90 miilion currently being reported.  And David, who doesn’t seem to learn that he needs to rid himself of the reputation of being Uffer’s spin doctor extraordinaire if he hopes to have any chance of surviving the Fifth Floor massacre we are all expecting, is telling the newspapers that we are wrong once again.

The information, of course, originated with Jim and I simply piggybacked onto what he had written.  And I am comfortable in doing so because I know he knows what he is talking about.

Remember some months ago when the county was claiming something like a $20 million deficit and we were claiming a $90  million deficit?  So who was right and who was wrong?

As the Uffer situation unfolds, we are hearing of mismanagement all over the county.  The most recent has to do with the General Fund reserves which have been wiped out by the latest revelation.  It seems Uffer hid the fact that leave accrual cash outs were being hidden and not funded. Continue reading →

iePolitics: Layoffs and TAP and TAD

Posted on by Administrator
1

If there are any employees who actually believe there will be no layoffs, I have some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you.  Former county administrative officer Mark Uffer has left a mess behind so much so that some are starting to feel sorry for his replacement Greg Devereaux and the almost impossible mess he has to clean up.

This fiscal year it will not be a matter of layoffs OR giving up our raises.  It will either be both or massive layoffs.  Let’s see how Bob Blough explains this one away.  But that is not the real point of this post.

 

Continue reading →

InlandPolitics: S.B. County budget plan currently rests on employees, unions

Posted on by Administrator
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  • Written by Administrator
  • Posted February 8, 2010 at 12:11 pm

San Bernardino County announced last Friday that it was delaying a planned budget workshop for another month.

For a county that has been asleep at the switch in closing an estimated budget shortfall of $90 million-plus in its upcoming fiscal year is anyone surprised?

Neighboring Riverside, Orange, Los Angeles, and San Diego Counties have at least been continually taking budget reduction steps in an effort to keep their respective situations manageable. Continue reading →