County cuts irk official

A month ago, several Clark County commissioners stated during a meeting that cuts in social services should be avoided, even if it means sacrificing other programs.

The county had to do everything it could to preserve aid to its most vulnerable residents, they said.

But some commissioners learned this week that county managers were pushing ahead with $7 million in social services cuts. This irked Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, who feels management was trying to bypass the commission.

"It's time that staff realizes that we are not irrelevant and (we) get to make that decision," Giunchigliani said. She asked that the proposed cuts be discussed at Tuesday's commission meeting.

In her experience, programs that are slashed are seldom restored, so it's important that these actions are not done hastily, she said.

Commissioner Lawrence Weekly said he was under the impression that he and his colleagues would receive a report before staff began scrubbing programs.

"Obviously our directions weren't as clear as they should've been," Weekly said.

The proposed cuts would affect rental assistance and other aid to homeless or severely impoverished adults.

Some cost-cutting has begun, including the elimination of 31 part-time jobs. The layoffs led to the agency closing an office that serves homeless people at the Fertitta Community Assistance Center.

County Manager Virginia Valentine sent a July 22 memo to commissioners. In it, she states that staffers will proceed with all the proposed cuts unless commissioners tell them to do otherwise.

Giunchigliani said if she had missed the memo and hadn't called the meeting, managers would've slashed programs without consulting with commissioners.

But Don Burnette, the county's chief administrative officer, said the memo clearly invites commissioners to weigh in.

Giunchigliani read it and called for more discussion, just as intended, he said.

The tense dialogue between county managers and some commissioners underscores a strained budget made tighter by the state dipping into county coffers to ease its own financial woes.

The revenue grab caused social services to lose $9.3 million this year for nonmedical care to the homeless and elderly at a time when demand for these services is rising.

At commissioners' request, the county will preserve $2.4 million in protective services and home care for the elderly by diverting money from other programs, Burnette said.

"I don't know where the money is coming from. We'll have to get it from somewhere," he said.

But Burnette contends that commissioners never were clear about how they wanted staff to deal with the remaining $7 million loss to nonmedical services.

The biggest snag is a statutory funding cap that forbids the county from spending any more tax dollars on these essential programs, he said.

In a written report, County Counsel Mary Ann Miller states that the cap is so strict that no money can be transferred from other parts of the budget to augment these programs.

The cap can be relinquished during emergencies, she writes. But because the county could foresee the impacts of the legislative takeaway, it can't be deemed an emergency, she said.

Giunchigliani disagreed with Miller. She said she believes the county's funding crisis is an emergency. County leaders had no idea that the legislative take-away would wreak this much havoc on the budget, she said.

Weekly said county leaders must find some way to preserve the programs, even if it means pressing Gov. Jim Gibbons to call a special session of the Legislature to amend the statute.

The state took a hefty sum from the county, hurting the poorest residents, Weekly said. So now it should help solve the problems that were created, he said.

Weekly talked about how constituents called him last year to volunteer to give away turkeys during the holidays. Now they're calling to ask how they can qualify to receive turkeys for their families, he said.

"It's past saving jobs," Weekly said. "Now it's about saving lives."

Contact reporter Scott Wyland at swyland@reviewjournal.com or 702-455-4519.