Amador County – Amador County Supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday to extend layoff notices for 10 more days for the top eight positions on a priority list and will consider bringing those back if everything goes through with the state for the county’s lost funding in the amount of $1.1 million.
Employees’ 21-day layoff notices were to expire Wednesday, June 27, and Supervisors had to decide whether to let the notice period pass and in effect terminate all 24 positions. County Administrative Office Chuck Iley submitted a prioritized list of positions by department, in order of importance to be recalled to work. Supervisors discussed the list and used it to determine which positions to extend layoff notices.
The motion to extend the layoff notices was contingent on the county getting back funding from the Education Revenue Augmentation Fund and triple flip funds, which could be restored by pending state legislation, and language in the Governor’s budget. The recall of eight employees would be pending the return of the ERAF funds, of property and sales tax and vehicle license fees lost to the county because of “basic aid” status of the Amador County Unified School District.
The motion included putting $250,000 into public works, though they would not allocate it to roads right now, as previously discussed in the meeting. The use would be determined later. The motion put $250,000 to public works for repairs and the rest into contingencies. Supervisor John Plasse made the motion originally to have $250,000 go to roads, but made a later motion to not state exactly where money in public works would go.
Plasse noted that Iley’s list of positions showed total salaries $1.6 million, which “is in excess of the totality of the money that may be coming back.” He also noted that the contingency goal of $1 million was only met by half, and the county continues to eat into its budget and carryover.
Supervisor Brian Oneto said they need some type of union concession to keep all 24 positions, even if they “get some funds back, there’s going to be some layoffs. It’s just a matter of who.”
Supervisor Chairman Louis Boitano agreed with the recall. Plasse suggested taking about half of the employees and restoring positions, if the $1.1 million in Triple Flip funds were restored, then putting $300,000 to restore the contingency fund to $800,000, and the rest to priorities as established by Public Works.
Oneto, Plasse and Boitano voted for the motion, and Forster and Novelli dissented. Forster preferred more funding to go toward getting employees recalled.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
