Nine in Stanislaus County building permit office face layoffs

Fees dry up after housing sector tanks

By TIM MORAN
tmoran@modbee.com

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Stanislaus County supervisors are scheduled to consider laying off nine employees in the Planning and Community Development Department today to cope with shrinking revenue caused by the slump in the building industry.

The county will consider eliminating nine full-time positions and three unfilled positions in the building permits division of the department to alleviate a $1.18 million revenue shortfall. The division is entirely funded by building permit and inspection fees.

The county had anticipated $3.28 million in revenue from the fees this year, but construction has been slower than anticipated, and the projection for the year is now $2.1 million. The layoffs are expected to save the county $1.15 million. Fund balances in the department will cover the rest of the shortfall, according to a county staff report.

The division has 34 authorized positions, 31 of them filled. The layoffs would reduce the division to 22 employees.

The supervisors also are scheduled to consider:

An expenditure plan for the proposed projects to be listed for the unincorporated areas in the transportation sales tax program.

The half-cent sales tax measure is headed for the November ballot and would raise $700 million over 20 years if approved by two-thirds of voters. The county's share of that money would be $77.6 million, or about $3.9 million a year.

The expenditure plan includes a mix of new traffic signals, road widening, bridge maintenance and replacement and resurfacing of roads. A list is available at www.stancounty.com/bos/agenda/2008/20080318/B17.pdf.

An ordinance implementing Measure E, the initiative restricting the conversion of agricultural land to residential development in the unincorporated areas of the county. Voters approved the initiative in February.

The results of a vote on the formation of a Salida Boulevard Landscape and Lighting District. Property owners in the proposed district rejected the proposal 14 to 3, out of 52 property owners eligible to vote.

The Department of Public Works will redesign the roadway medians to eliminate the need for ongoing landscape maintenance, according to a staff report.

A personal service contract with Dave Young as director of animal services. Young is serving as interim director, and the contract would make him director for as long as another year, at a salary of $118,560.

The effort to recruit a permanent director will continue. The contract will ensure adequate leadership in the meantime, according to a staff report.

The Board of Supervisors meets at 6:30 p.m. today in the basement chambers at 1010 10th St., Modesto.

Bee staff writer Tim Moran can be reached at tmoran@modbee.com or 578-2349.