Tour Bus Crash Update
Mar. 18th, 2003 05:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyburgGhad, this is turning into a personal vendetta.
County prepares another round of budget cuts
By Buck Wargo, Inland Valley Voice
SAN BERNARDINO -- San Bernardino County is readying a budget cut of $10.9 million to prepare for massive state budget trims.The Board of Supervisors put off a decision on making the cuts Tuesday to gain another week to consider the proposals of outgoing County Administrative Officer John Michaelson.
No jobs would be lost in this latest round of cuts, which would be on top of a 4% reduction last year that trimmed $8.6 million out of the budget.
"I think people can expect longer lines for service and documents," Michaelson said.
Layoffs would hurt morale and aren't ready to be considered until the county knows the impact of the state budget cuts, Michaelson said.
If enacted, Gov. Gray Davis' budget cuts would cost the county $55.3 million through the end of June and more than $160 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1. That impact would be lessened if the state restores vehicle license fees to 1998 levels, but Michaelson warns that Republicans have proposed $500 million in reductions to local government.
In January, the board imposed a selective hiring freeze and halted buying any more equipment until the financial impacts are known to the county.
The latest proposed reductions have come under fire from Supervisor Bill Postmus, who represents much of the outlying areas of the county. Postmus rallied against proposed cuts of $55,070 that would result in the periodic closure of fire stations in desert areas that already rely on volunteers.
Postmus pointed to Sunday's crash on Interstate 15 north of Baker in which more than 100 people on two tour buses to Las Vegas were injured, saying the department is stretched thin to provide emergency medical care.
Darrel Crane, president of the San Bernardino County Professional Firefighters Local 935, said he will attend Tuesday's meeting to continue to complain about the lack of funding for the stations in Baker and Harvard that respond to collisions between Barstow and the Nevada state line.
The two stations are staffed with low-wage firefighters and there are no paramedics at either station, Crane said. He also criticized comments of supervisors that the cuts would also affect other fire districts in the county.
"The cities already have fire departments," Crane said. "The people hurt in these crashes aren't desert people. They are from Los Angeles, and the county is obligated to protect them."
I'm also going to contact the LA Times writers from the original stories and see if there were any updates. We haven't even heard if any of those six people airlifted three times the necessary distance for care made it or not.
Note the inter-county squabbling. Los Angeles county has the money. San Bernardino has the square footage and no tax base to speak of. IMHO, this is a state matter --
County prepares another round of budget cuts
By Buck Wargo, Inland Valley Voice
SAN BERNARDINO -- San Bernardino County is readying a budget cut of $10.9 million to prepare for massive state budget trims.The Board of Supervisors put off a decision on making the cuts Tuesday to gain another week to consider the proposals of outgoing County Administrative Officer John Michaelson.
No jobs would be lost in this latest round of cuts, which would be on top of a 4% reduction last year that trimmed $8.6 million out of the budget.
"I think people can expect longer lines for service and documents," Michaelson said.
Layoffs would hurt morale and aren't ready to be considered until the county knows the impact of the state budget cuts, Michaelson said.
If enacted, Gov. Gray Davis' budget cuts would cost the county $55.3 million through the end of June and more than $160 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1. That impact would be lessened if the state restores vehicle license fees to 1998 levels, but Michaelson warns that Republicans have proposed $500 million in reductions to local government.
In January, the board imposed a selective hiring freeze and halted buying any more equipment until the financial impacts are known to the county.
The latest proposed reductions have come under fire from Supervisor Bill Postmus, who represents much of the outlying areas of the county. Postmus rallied against proposed cuts of $55,070 that would result in the periodic closure of fire stations in desert areas that already rely on volunteers.
Postmus pointed to Sunday's crash on Interstate 15 north of Baker in which more than 100 people on two tour buses to Las Vegas were injured, saying the department is stretched thin to provide emergency medical care.
Darrel Crane, president of the San Bernardino County Professional Firefighters Local 935, said he will attend Tuesday's meeting to continue to complain about the lack of funding for the stations in Baker and Harvard that respond to collisions between Barstow and the Nevada state line.
The two stations are staffed with low-wage firefighters and there are no paramedics at either station, Crane said. He also criticized comments of supervisors that the cuts would also affect other fire districts in the county.
"The cities already have fire departments," Crane said. "The people hurt in these crashes aren't desert people. They are from Los Angeles, and the county is obligated to protect them."
I'm also going to contact the LA Times writers from the original stories and see if there were any updates. We haven't even heard if any of those six people airlifted three times the necessary distance for care made it or not.
Note the inter-county squabbling. Los Angeles county has the money. San Bernardino has the square footage and no tax base to speak of. IMHO, this is a state matter --
