The board of supervisors on Friday, June 15th, 2007 made final budget decisions that minimize the harm to critical client services. Their original proposal would have devastated mental health, public health and DADS services.

Members played an instrumental role in persuading the board to save as many services as possible during budget decisions. SEIU Local 521 is proud to support this new county budget for fiscal 2008.

It has been said that this budget year was one of the worst because of the effects on services to the county residents. When the dire predictions were made in August regarding up to 1,500 layoffs, SEIU Local 521 knew we had to act fast and let the public know the effects on services that these cuts would have.

We reached out to the community by telling our clients whom we served, our non-profits we partnered with, and the community-at-large that PREVENTIVE SERVICES SAVES LIVES AND MAKES CENTS!

And hundreds of members made a difference by participating in different rally actions and board meetings. Almost 700 people signed our online petition to save client services. We also wrote an op-ed for the Mercury News and performed street theater to show the critical need for services. And we teamed up with Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits and sent a joint letter to the board of supervisors.

We appreciate the board of supervisors’ patience during the large actions we had so the public and our members could voice their concerns. We also appreciate the time that the county departments, the county executive and the board gave to our members so we could voice our concerns.

However, as we all know, we will begin again for the next budget for fiscal year 2009 in a few months. We’re glad the county executive is looking for and recommending new revenues to pay for services that the county provides. SEIU and the Nonprofit council will be working together to do the same. We’ll be looking for additional partners to help the county obtain additional revenue.

Next year, we hope the board and the county executive do not box the budget into narrowly defined budget policies. Flexibility is essential next year! The contingency reserve should be examined and maybe have a range based on certain criteria. Why does this county need to have such a high contingency reserve compared to other large counties? It’s unfortunate that one of the reasons is because we can’t trust the federal government to help in cases of emergency! In addition, the board needs to re-examine the general fund balances and define what are considered “on-going” and “one-time” funds.

I would like to thank the board for all the programs that were restored. Although we would have liked all programs and jobs restored, we understand that was not possible this year. We will be back next year with more ideas and solutions to our recurring budget problems.

Details of the budget will be in our next Buffalo Bulletin.

Brian O’Neill, County Chapter Chair for SEIU Local 521 (formerly Local 715 members)