220 Positions Eliminated in County Reorganization

SANTA ANA — County Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier announced Friday that her reorganization of county government has resulted in the elimination of 220 jobs, at a savings to the county of $10.4 million annually.

The cutbacks come a year after the Board of Supervisors eliminated two big county agencies and reduced the number of managers in the 14,000-employee, $3-billion-a-year bureaucracy.

Only about a dozen workers are expected to lose their jobs under the restructuring. The remainder took early retirement or left county government for other jobs.

Mittermeier said the cuts were necessary to pay for public services that lost resources because of the county’s $1.64-billion bankruptcy, ranging from the Harbors, Beaches and Parks division to the landfill system.

“If anything can be said to be a positive product of the bankruptcy, this is it,” Mittermeier said Friday. “Organizations don’t fix things unless there is a crisis. I feel we have been successful so far, but we are not through yet.”

The latest round of cutbacks come two years after the county laid off nearly 600 workers in the chaotic months following the December 1994 bankruptcy. The county emerged from bankruptcy last June, but Mittermeier and other officials insisted more belt-tightening was needed to make up for losses.

The centerpiece of the reorganization was the elimination of the Environmental Management Agency and General Services Agency. In their place, the county created smaller departments and looked for opportunities where employees who once worked for one department could also contribute to others.

“Businesses are always doing this because it benefits the bottom line,” Mittermeier said. “But government usually doesn’t. But we have to do it in order to be as efficient as possible with taxpayer dollars.”

Though 220 jobs are being cut, the total number of county workers is expected to rise by several hundred positions because of new hirings approved by the Board of Supervisors. However, all but four of the new positions are being paid for with state or federal funds. They include Sheriff’s Department personnel to investigate unsolved homicides and more investigators for the district attorney’s family support division.

Supervisor Jim Silva praised the restructuring effort but said he would like Mittermeier to cut some of the hundreds of vacant positions still on the county books.

“This is a good start,” Silva said. “I don’t like to see people laid off. But these cuts are necessary when you consider that we have nearly a billion dollars in debt to pay off.”

An additional 15 jobs could be eliminated if the county decides to turn over operations of its central power plant to a private operator.

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County Cuts

Orange County is eliminating 220 positions as part of a government reorganization. About a dozen workers are expected to be laid off, while most of the others have taken early retirement or left for other jobs. Here is a breakdown of where the cuts are being made:

Department: Environmental Management/parks/flood control

Positions: 90

Department: General Services/facilities

Positions: 27

Department: Integrated Waste/landfills

Positions: 20

Department: Human Resources/employee benefits

Positions: 3

Department: John Wayne Airport

Positions: 3

Department: Transportation

Positions: 3

Department: Other position cuts

Positions: 74*

* Includes environmental management and general services positions cut in 1996 budget

Source: County Executive Office; Researched by SHELBY GRAD / Los Angeles Times