Ventura County's government will have fewer employees and offer fewer services because of state budget cuts, but it probably won't have to lay off anyone, the county's top executives told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

County Executive Officer Marty Robinson and Chief Finance Officer Paul Derse gave the board its most detailed look yet into exactly what impact the struggling economy and state budget woes will have on the county.

They predicted cuts in many areas, but particularly in health and welfare programs. They also projected more spending to meet the county's pension obligations and a dwindling of the county work force, through attrition, from its present total of about 8,000.

"We will be talking about a loss of positions, but not layoffs," Robinson said. "I believe our managers have done a very good job of attempting to deal with the uncertainty. They've been very fiscally responsible in trying to keep positions open. If we do have to have layoffs, they'll be a ways down the road."

The board in June passed a $1.64 billion budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year, but it assumed funding from the state that, in some cases, was eliminated when Sacramento passed its budget last month.

The total county cuts will come to about $4.25 million and the equivalent of 50 full-time positions, Derse said. He said he won't know exactly which positions will be eliminated until next month.

About $2.6 million and 34 positions will come from programs funded by the state and run by the county's Human Services Agency. They include the food stamp program, CalWorks welfare program and adult protective services.

Public health programs that work to prevent the spread of AIDS and other diseases will be cut, as will programs to deal with mental illness and drug addiction.

The district attorney is expected to lose funding from a number of grants, equivalent to the cost of about one prosecutor, Derse said.

The county also might have to stop testing water quality at beaches because the state cut $159,000 from the program — nearly the entire budget. The county will have enough money to keep testing through the end of the month, then test again for a short while next summer, Derse said. After that, the tests will be gone unless the Board of Supervisors moves money into the program from elsewhere in the county budget.

The county's pension plan assumes an average investment gain of 8 percent per year. Last year, however, those investments lost 6.7 percent. If the losses continue at the current pace, Derse said, the county will have to put an additional $20 million to $30 million per year into the pension system by 2010.

With the county's unemployment rate above 7 percent and sales tax revenue dropping, there doesn't appear to be much relief in sight. The only positive news is that property tax revenue is not expected to decline, and that the real estate market is showing signs of life, with prices still dropping but sales picking up, Derse said.

"Bad is never good until worse comes along, and we're going to be confronting the worst," Robinson said. "We are in a very difficult situation, and I don't see it improving."