WHEN: Thursday, June 26, 2008 5:30 P.M.
WHERE: Tulare County Courthouse, 221 South Mooney Blvd., Visalia, CA

VISALIA – 700 County workers will hold a rally on Thursday, June 26th at the Tulare County Courthouse on 221 South Mooney Blvd., and collectively speak out about the escalating issues threatening the county. The event aims to raise community awareness and to challenge County leadership to take responsibility in developing solutions to improve county services.

Tulare County’s budget has jumped 35% in the past 3 years, reporting surpluses each time. Despite good financial health, county services continue to deteriorate and vacancies in critical departments such as public health and safety remain open for months.

While significant economic and demographic growth is projected for years to come in the Central Valley, Tulare County is finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain quality staff for public services.

"The community is growing at a rapid rate, even in this economic recession. With more patients and caseloads to attend to and a lack of staff to accommodate, it is putting a strain on all of us," says Janet Baker, a Tulare County Nurse Case Manager.

The Board continues to grant 10% salary raises and restructuring salary caps for Executive Management, in addition to increasing their own health care contributions to $14,000.

Robert Milner, an Agriculture Inspector for the county, notes that "We want to be known as a first class county in the Central Valley. Both leadership and management need to work with us to explore new avenues to help maintain and improve public services. Financially, the County is in a position to make some decisions that could positively impact the quality and efficiency of services by simply investing in its workforce. It just makes good business sense."

A combination of poor decision making by the Tulare County Board of Supervisors and Executive Management has been a catalyst to the situation, subsequently draining tax revenue and relying on budget increases rather than proactively investing public resources into improving services.