Contra Costa County
On Tuesday, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors delayed action on a series of proposed budget cuts until its Dec. 9 meeting, the Contra Costa Times reports (Gafni, Contra Costa Times [1], 11/18).
The cuts are expected to affect the county Employment and Human Services Department most substantially, but could also hit health services (Gafni, Contra Costa Times [2], 11/18).
Fresno County
On Dec. 8, Fresno County supervisors will hold a special meeting on a proposal to provide an additional $1.8 million contribution to employee health insurance premiums, the Fresno Bee reports.
The move comes after a union official warned that a county plan would have driven more county employees to enroll their children in Healthy Families, California's version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The county plan would cap biweekly contributions to premiums at $194 or $208 depending on which health plan county employees choose.
County supervisors are considering how the additional contribution would be funded and whether layoffs would be needed to cover the cost (Benjamin, Fresno Bee, 11/18).
San Diego County
Health and human services programs in San Diego County could lose at least $31 million in funding this year because of drops in state funding for such programs, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Financial problems could worsen if California further cuts funding for county programs as part of an effort to address the budget deficit.
County health and human services agency officials said they might have to scale back services as well as the number of agency employees because of the drop in funding (Gustafson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11/19).