The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors is set to take the first steps in laying off more than 30 library workers and adjusting county library branch hours as some Contra Costa cities are expected to cut funding for extra library hours.
The county library system provides a baseline 35 open hours each week at each of the system’s 26 branches. Ten cities this past year paid extra to have their libraries open more hours per week. Those cities, according to a county staff report, are expected to contribute a combined $700,000 less than the $3.38 million included in the county’s preliminary 2020/21 budget.
As a result, library hours and staffing figure to be reduced accordingly. The supervisors are poised to eliminate 39 positions — seven of them vacant — and cut extra open library hours, in most cases, from four to 10 hours a week.
These numbers could be revisited, as most of Contra Costa County’s 19 cities have not yet finalized their 2020-2021 budgets. But every city is expected to make budget cuts from 2019-2020, as the COVID-19 coronavirus
shelter-in-place order has decimated municipal sales tax, real estate transfer tax and gas tax revenues.
What a huge surprise! So, now the government is considering what the house arrests have done to the economy,, and layoffs have begun. Let’s start with cutting back the salaries of the supervisors who make six figures, and Chris Farnitano’s nearly half-a-million (with benefits) annual salary. He’s the intransigent one who is making onerous stipulations, with CCC being one of the slowest counties in the state to open. Let the control freaks feel what the peasants feel when their pay is cut, or they have to be on unemployment. .
And they now want the equal salaries of judges. Remove and replace supes….
Its interesting that they NEVER talk about cutting pay or benefits across the BOARD, rather, lets cut library worker positions. This is true at the City level too…..no actual salary cuts.
It’s pretty simple Fed Up
Because the State, County, City, Special Districts and their Employees have agreed to and signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
They have a binding employment contract between them. That MOU doesn’t allow the employees to conduct a job action (strike/work slow down/sick call out etc) for more pay or benefits than agreed to, no matter how good the economy might be doing, and it doesn’t allow the Employer to cut pay or benefits lower than agreed to, no matter how bad the economy might be doing. Each party to the contract takes a calculated risk for smooth operations and stability.
Most MOU do not have openers to discuss salary and benefits. The employers traditionally do not want salary openers since, except for a few down turns, the economy grows and there would be continuous salary talks and budgets would be in constant flux.
The City of Walnut Creek asked it’s employees but the employees were under zero obligation to even consider the City’s cost saying proposals.
The good people of Contra Costa County need all new representatives.
Representatives with good character values such as morals and integrity.
Representatives with enough sense to manage the county responsibly.
The good people of Contra Costa County need stricter term limits on all county elected representatives.
Every Citizen serves one term and that’s it.
That goes for the Concord City Council too.
No more professional, long term representative, and no political climbers.
Good thought, but impossible. Good, honest, quality people do not go into politics anymore. Politicians, by their very nature, are into it for themselves.
Cutting library staff, hours, other resources will only make sure that those who are already under educated remain that way. Watch for the supervisors to decide they need a raise.
I doubt if the under educated ever step into a library. If they had that kind of initiative they wouldn’t be under educated. Having said that, the library is one of the few government functions that actually does what it’s intended to do and does it well. We would be better served cutting salaries of elected/political appointees officials by 25%.
They always cut front-line workers who interact with the public because they want the public to hurt, thereby insuring that they are more willing to vote for ballot measures to raise more funds. If the county and city cut high-level supervisors no one would notice. But start cutting library staff, parks and rec staff, maintenance workers, teachers, etc… and the public takes notice.
Unfortunately, front line workers are also usually the lowest paid people within an organization. We are asking them to take nearly 100% of the COVID-19 risk while also telling them they are cannon fodder that will be replaced should they resist those working conditions.
Those front line people are also nearly always quite essential to an organization.