The Ventura County Board of Supervisors agreed Monday night on a budget for the coming year that keeps most government services at their current levels and puts off some of the biggest decisions until fall.

The $1.6 billion budget for 2007-08, effective July 1, follows County Executive Officer Johnny Johnston’s recommendations almost to the letter. The only exceptions were $384,000 in additional spending, mostly on social services, which the board paid for out of the $2.4 million contingency fund in Johnston’s recommended budget.

“The CEO has laid out the basic premise of the budget we’re dealing with this year, and that is really to hold the line and not expand new programs,” Supervisor Kathy Long said.

The last-minute additions will pay for a methamphetamine treatment specialist and 25 new beds in detoxification treatment centers, two social workers to work with young people recently emancipated from foster care, $100,000 to implement some of the recommendations in the county’s plan to combat homelessness, and a new financial analyst in the county Fire Department.

The board approved the budget by a 4-0 vote. Supervisor John Flynn left just before the vote but first announced that he also supported the budget.

The board did not address requests by the sheriff, district attorney, public defender, auditor-controller, tax assessor and tax collector for a total of about $6 million in funding beyond what is now in the budget.

‘Bearing an unfair burden’

Those requests include $2.8 million that Sheriff Bob Brooks said he needed to pay his deputies overtime, and $800,000 that District Attorney Greg Totten asked for to hire five prosecutors and seven other employees.

“We’re bearing an unfair burden and a burden that is compromising safety and justice in our community,” Totten told the board, noting that his department’s staffing is down 15 percent since 2002, while caseloads are up.

All five supervisors said those departments have compelling needs, but no one had a proposal to find new revenues or cut from other parts of the budget to pay for them.

In October, Johnston will return to the board with an accounting of how the year’s revenues are shaping up and a plan to give at least something to the sheriff, district attorney and other elected officials.

“Given the budget that’s presented to us, essentially we’re in a zero-sum game,” Supervisor Steve Bennett said. “If somebody says, ‘Hey, we need a million dollars more for alcohol and drug programs,’ the question is, where does the million dollars come from?”

The budget assumes salary increases between 3 percent and 4 percent for most members of Service Employees International Union, the largest union of county workers.

That has infuriated some SEIU members because the union and county are still negotiating a contract for the next two years.

On Monday, SEIU members said the board is setting aside too much for reserves, while salaries remain below those of neighboring counties. The reserves stand at about 8.5 percent of the general fund, and the board wants to keep saving until it reaches 15 percent.

Union says reserves too high

The SEIU argues that 15 percent is far beyond what any other county in Southern California has saved.

“We do need a reserve, I agree, but we don’t need to have so much in reserves, ” said Lettie Alvarez, an SEIU member and public health worker.

Johnston countered that 15 percent is necessary because the county needs to repair its credit rating, which took a dive after reserves hit zero in 2002. The current budget does not allocate any money to reserve accounts, he said; it only directs anything that’s unspent at the end of the year into savings.

“Our goal is to pay a fair and competitive wage to recruit and retain quality employees, and we’re doing the best we can,” Johnston said.