


In another hit from the slumping housing market, Riverside County (CA) is laying off nearly half of the employees in its building and safety department, county officials said Thursday. The department issues building permits, reviews plans and makes inspections. It relies entirely on fees charged to builders and residents to fund operations.
With business down by more than half, there is no work -- and no money -- for the employees, said Nick Anderson, the department's director. The Riverside County Building & Safety Department had 97 filled positions at the start of the year. Effective Wednesday, the department will let go 40, mainly engineers, building inspectors and supervisors, Anderson said.
"In the last two years, we have been informing our staff of the declining revenues," he said.
"We have been upfront with them," Anderson said. "It was a hard decision to make. It was troublesome. Since there was no work for them, we had no alternative."
The level of activity in the department now is closer to what officials saw 10 years ago, Anderson said. In 2004 and 2005, the department issued about 2,000 building permits a month. Now, the department is issuing only about 800 -- 40 percent below that earlier level, he said.
The union that represents the employees disagrees with the county's assessment and believes the employees do not have to lose their jobs.
"Many of these civil engineers have been working at the county for 20 or more years," said Patrick Chandler, a spokesman for the Service Employees International Union Local 721.
"The civil engineers, when we met with them, said they had a backlog," Chandler said. "There is enough work for them to do."
He said the county has contracted out for plan checks and has had inefficient business practices.
"We understand there is a downturn in the economy, but we want to ensure our members are looked out for," he said.
Chandler declined to say whether the union plans to file a grievance with the county. The union is requesting more information and discussing how to proceed, he said.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Roy Wilson said Thursday that the county is facing cutbacks across the board.
"Money isn't coming in to pay the salaries," he said.
Wilson said the county is working with the union to make sure the employees find new work. Some have been offered early retirement, he added.
The layoffs are the latest bad news stemming from the downturn in the housing market. The slump also is translating into reductions in the property and sales taxes collected, two revenue sources that local governments rely heavily on to fund basic services such as police and fire protection.
Last month, county officials revised their estimate for property-tax revenue growth for next year to 4 percent from 8 percent. They said cuts and a reduction in expenses will be needed to balance the budget.
No Job Cuts in S.B. County
San Bernardino County officials also are expecting a tough budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. But spokesman David Wert said Thursday that the county has no plans to reduce the staff of the Building and Safety Division.
"They still have more than enough work to support the staff they have," Wert said.
The slowdown in construction has meant developers have more time for planning new projects in an effort to be ready for when the market rebounds, said Borre Winckel, executive director of the Riverside County chapter of the Building Industry Association.
The downside, Winckel said in a recent interview, is the Riverside County doesn't have the revenue for the same building and planning departments as before, meaning the level of service could go down.
30 Positions Left Vacant
In addition to the layoffs, the Riverside County Building Department has not filled 30 vacant positions because of the lack of business.
"We have been trying to transfer people into other departments. There have been about eight people moved over to the Transportation Department," Riverside County spokesman Ray Smith said.
For others, Smith said, officials are working with the county Human Resources Department to try and link employees with potential new jobs.
"We want to provide whatever help we can," he said.
Some in the building industry are optimistic that the housing market will rebound. When it does, the Building & Safety Department once again will be busy and need workers.
Anderson said those let go now "will be on the top of the list on any rehires."
Supervisor Jeff Stone, the board's vice chairman, said the need to lay off the employees is unfortunate.
It's not just a matter of revenue, said Stone, who represents southwestern Riverside County, an area that had experienced a building boom. There is no work for the inspectors and engineers, he said.
"We have tried our hardest to relocate as many people as we can," Stone said "The ones that are being laid off, unfortunately, there was no place to put them."
The county as a whole, like the employees, is a victim of the economic slowdown, Stone said, citing the tough budget year supervisors are facing.
"We hope it is short-lived and we can bring them back," Stone said.
(pe.com)