Santa Clara County Proposes Job Cuts

Administrators of California’s Santa Clara County next will propose the almost-immediate elimination of dozens of county jobs.

Pointing to service demands that exceed the budget, acting County Executive Gary Graves is recommending 48 jobs be cut. The positions are mainly in the mental health field.

County supervisors will vote on the matter at a Tuesday board meeting.

As of Friday, it remained unclear how many people would lose their jobs, but most employees were expected to be shifted into other county spots.

In 2003 the county eliminated almost 1,000 positions, bringing its force to its current level of about 15,000 employees. Most of the 2003 cuts were vacant positions.

Service cuts are likely to gouge deeply into health and human services, with some county budget watchers predicting a particularly hard hit on drug and alcohol treatment.