Quick Notes

YCEA Local #1 Site Representative Meeting

June 9, 2009

Gary Stucky, S/YCEA Executive Director

ADDENDUM AGREEMENT

A copy of the addendum agreement between YCEA and Yuba County regarding deferral of the County paying the employee 7% contribution to CalPERS, suspension of Y-rate application to layoffs and reactivating the Voluntary Time off (VTO) Program was distributed to Site Representatives. This agreement will also be posted on the SYCEA web site. The agreement calls for the County to begin paying the employee 7% contribution effective July 1, 2010. Staff indicated at this time he is not inclined to recommend a further deferral if one appears to be necessary. Staff indicated that ultimately it is the leaderships’ decision to consider and the memberships’ decision to approve any further deferral. The suspension of the Y-rate only applies to layoffs and it does not affect positions being Y-rated due to reclassification or other personnel changes. The County's VTO Program policy is being modified for dissemination to Departments and should be available within the next several weeks.

STATE BUDGET - POTENTIAL IMPACT TO THE COUNTY

State Budget

A copy of a letter from John Chiang, State Comptroller addressed to the Governor and leaders of the State Legislature was distributed. The letter outlines the seriousness of the states financial position and points out that as of July 29, 2009, the State will not have adequate revenue to pay its obligations, and will have a cash flow deficit of $317.1 million. It notes that just a few days later as of July 31, that cash flow deficit will increase to $1.02 billion. The letter strongly urges the State Legislature and Governor to take action no later than June 15, 2009 and warns that a protracted stalemate would do serious harm to the already fragile economy and potentially extend the recession. Site Representatives were encouraged to write letters to the State Legislators and Governor encouraging them to make the difficult decisions required to address the structural imbalance in the State budget and to base their decisions on a balance of fair and equitable cuts and revenue enhancements.

Sacramento Bee Article

Copy of an article was distributed to Site Representatives regarding potential adjustments to California taxes and revenue. In addition to the State seriously addressing the bureaucracy that taxpayers are no longer willing to fund, the State must also look at adjusting their revenue in order to avoid serious cuts to the health and human services programs currently in place. Some the options suggested in the article are an increase to the income tax rate for those earning more than $250,000 per year, restoring vehicle license fees to the 2003 level, reassessing all commercial property and increasing corporate income tax rates.

County Budget Balanced

The County has balanced the budget after making revenue and expenditure adjustments to the 2009-2010 budget, in the amount of $11.4 million. These adjustments do not include the deferral of salary increases and the CalPERS adjustment, which means that had the deferrals not been made, layoffs would have definitely occurred. The State's budget deficit continues to threaten the stability of the County budget. At minimum, it appears the State will exercise their authority to borrow funds from local government under the previous Prop 1A initiative, which allows the State to borrow property tax revenues twice during a 10-year period, supposedly with the understanding that the State will repay the amount they borrow. Counties and cities are considering a plan that would allow them to be the State’s lending broker, so that the State’s action does not directly affect local revenues. This may become necessary to avoid further cuts to local government budgets and because the State’s financial position does not allow it to borrow the money directly.

If the State in fact cuts social services programs as proposed by the Governor, the impact to counties is unclear. It is clear that such action will further damage the economy and create a serious social problem for local communities. It also appears that should the State take this action that under the Welfare and Institution Code, local Counties could be held responsible for indigent care, which would have a devastating impact to the County's budget. It seems unlikely that anyone in a position of authority and leadership of the State of California would allow this to happen. The problem we face is the stalemate between the extremes of the political spectrum and the fact that our State Constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote by both houses of the Legislature in order to pass a State budget.

There is some discussion regarding the federal government bailing out the State of California. It certainly seems likely that the federal government and the Obama administration would take this action rather than witness the social unrest created by the elimination of the federally sponsored social services programs. If the federal government offers such a bailout it will undoubtedly come with strings attached, which our State leaders may find difficult, if not impossible to accept.

SYCEA WEBSITE

A recent web site survey was conducted to determine to what extent our members were accessing the association’s web site and to gain feedback from members regarding changes recently made by Office Manager Anna Anderson. The results of the survey were shared with Site Representatives and a copy of the results is posted on the web site at www.sycea.org. In general, the feedback was positive and staff is considering suggestions made in the additional ideas/suggestions portion of the survey. Staff welcomes constructive criticism and ideas, which we will try to incorporate into the web site.

MEMBER APPRECIATION DAY

YCEA has proposed a joint event with the County to recognize employees and the contribution they make. The County has expressed interest, discussions will be held shortly to determine whether we will proceed on this basis. If an agreement cannot be reached, YCEA will schedule a separate event.

UPDATE ON PENDING MATTERS

Master Labor Agreement

We are close to finalizing the Master Labor Agreement, this project was once again delayed due to the pending budget problems and a number of disciplinary matters which took precedence.