County of Santa Clara
Office of the County Executive

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CE02 061002

Prepared by: Peter Ng
Administrative Services

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Submitted by: Jane Decker

Deputy County Executive
DATE:

June 10, 2002

TO:

Board of Supervisors
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FROM:
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Richard Wittenberg
County Executive

SUBJECT; Revisions to FY03 Recommended Budget - Office of Human Relations

RFCOMMENPED ACTION

Consider recommendations relating to revisions to the FY03 Recommended Budget foi the
Office of Human Relations under the County Executive Office(BU 107) related to the Youth
Advisory Task Force Program and the Dispute Resolution Program Services.
Possible actions:

a. Reduce General Fund revenues and reimbursements to be offset with expenditure

reductions totaling $89,500 in the Office of Human Relations budget(Index 5700),
which includes the elimination of all staff and fiscal support for the Youth Advisory

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Task Force Program,

b. Delete 1.0 FTE Human Relations Coordinator I(B18, filled) which serves as the Youth

Advisory Task Force Program Coordinator in the Office of Human Relations(BU 107),
to be included in the final salary ordinance amendment to be considered by the Board of
Supervisors on June 14, 2002.

It should be noted that a separate referral for $66,500 in one-time funds for the Youth
Advisory Task Force program has been forwarded from the Health and Hospital Committee to
the Budget Inventory without a recommendation.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

There is no net fiscal impact to the General Fund. The proposed actions are in response to
recent revisions to the estimated revenues and reimbursements included in the FY03

Recommended Budget for the Office of Human Relations(OHR). These revisions include a
reduction of revenues from the District Attorney Offlee's Alternative Dispute Resolution Trust

Fund in the amount of $30,000, and the expected recommendation for zero funding to be

proposed by the Public Health Department's Violence Prevention Program for the Youth
Advisory Task Force(YATF)Program, which was originally estimated at $59,500. These
revisions will result in a total revenue/ reimbursement shortfall of $89,500 in the FY03
Recommended Budget.

As a result of these revisions, OHR has no choice but to eliminate all staff and fiscal support

for the YATF Program in order to offset the direct loss of revenues/reimbursements that is
currently included in their budget. The proposed actions will delete 1.0 FTE Human Relations
Coordinator I position (filled) valued at $56,162 that serves as the YATF Program
Coordinator. In addition, the proposed actions will reduce Object 2 Services & Supplies

appropriations by $33,388 for the balance of the shortfall. The Object 2 reductions will
include elimination of the mini grant funding to various community groups and other support

costs under the YATF Program, as well as reducing training, education, conference, and other
support costs for the Dispute Resolution Program Services.

These proposed reductions will fully offset the projected revenue/reimbursement shortfall,
resulting in no net fiscal impact to the General Fund. If the Board elects to approve the Budget
Inventory request for the YATF program, the position and related support costs can be
maintained for another year.
CONTRACT HISTORY

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Not applicable.
REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION

When the contract positions in the YATF Program (1.0 FTE)and the Dispute Resolution
Program Services (3.5 FTE's) were converted to pennanent coded positions in FY02, the costs
for these grant funded positions beeame a part of the FY03 base budget. Consequently, the
associated grant funding that supports these positions were also assumed to be ongoing as well
under County budget policy, despite the fact that both programs were subject to a new

Request For Proposal(RFP)process for FY03 funding. Unfortunately, the RFP process for
both programs did not occur until the month of May, after the FY03 Recommended Budget
was developed and presented to the Board.

For the YATF program, OHR was notified in late May that their proposal did not receive a
high enough ranking by the evaluation eommittee and was therefore being recommended for
no funding in FY03. The Violence Prevention Task Group is scheduled to meet later this
month to review the committee's recommendations and could still change the final
recommendations to the Board for allocation of Violence Prevention Program funding.

However, those recommendations are not expected to be presented to the Board until August
or September. The FY03 Reeommended Budget did anticipate continued funding for the
YATF program and included $59,500 in budgeted reimbursement from the Violence
Prevention Program. Although the funding decision has not been finalized, the assumption is
that the funding will not be available.

OHR was also notified in late May that the RFP evaluation committee for the District

Attorney Office is recommending an award of $170,000 to the Dispute Resolution Program

Services for FY03. This award is a reduction compared to the estimated amount of $200,000
ineluded in the FY03 Recommended Budget that was based on the current year award. The

reduced award is primarily due to an overall decrease in the total amount offunds available in
the Alternative Dispute Resolution Trust Fund for allocation next fiscal year.
As a result of these recent revised estimates, the FY03 Recommended Budget for the Office of

Human Relations has a projected total revenue/reimbursement shortfall of $89,500.
In order to not exaceberate the County's current deficit situation, OHR has been directed to

identify expenditure reductions that will offset the projected revenue shortfall. Sinee these
grant sources are specific to the YATF Program and to the Dispute Resolution Program
Services, OHR has developed reduction proposals that are tied directly to the reduction or loss

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of funding.
Service Impacts

With the proposed elimination of all support for the YATF Program, there will be no staff
available to coordinate, recruit, and lead the Youth Task Force in further developing the

program and providing advice to the Board of Supervisors on youth related issues. The
elimination of the funding support for the mini grants will also reduce the opportunities that
currently provided to youth through various community and school organizations. These
opportunities include a Neighborhood Project which teaches youth how to get to know their
neighbors and community better, a Future Business Leaders of America project which
are

provides funding for youths to participate in a state leadership competition and conference,
and a Martin Luther King, Jr. "Stop the Violence" rally at Evergreen College which provides
youth with opportunities to reconnect with community service organizations and businesses to
help promote non-violent lifestyles.

For the Dispute Resolution Program Services, the reduction in Object 2 support will result in
major reductions to the conference, education, and training opportunities that has previously
been available to the staff and the many volunteer mediators and interns that are important to

the success of the program. However, these reductions are not expected to have any

significant impact on the current level of mediation services provided beyond the deletion of
the half-time position that is already included in the FY03 Recommended Budget.

BACKGROUND

Youth Advisory Task Force(YATF)Program

The Youth Advisory Task Force was established in 1999 at the request of the Board of

Supervisors to involve youth from all areas of the county to help develop solutions to youth
problems. The Task Force currently consists of approximately 18-20 participating youth. The
program has been funded through the Public Health Department's Violence Prevention Plan
over the past two fiscal years. The first year allocation provided full funding for contract
coordinator services and support costs to further develop and implement the YATF Program.
In addition, the allocation included funding for mini grants to be made available to community
groups who work effectively with youth.

For FY02, the Board approved converting the contract position to a permanent Human

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Relations Coordinator I position in order to improve the recruitment opportunities and ensure
better retention of qualified candidates for the position. The pennanent position would also

help to provide better consistency, coordination, and effectiveness of the program. The total
FY03 projected costs of the YATF program is estimated at $66,500, which includes the
position, the mini grant funding, and other program support costs. The FY03 Recommended
Budget had anticipated continued funding from the Violence Prevention Program in the
amount of $59,500.

Dispute Resolution Program(DRP)

This program has been in existence since 1977 and has grown to become one of the most
effective and comprehensive dispute resolution programs in the state. The program provides
valuable dispute resolution training, education outreach, and direct mediation services through
an

extensive network of trained volunteer mediators. The program coordinates with a variety

of community and government organizations and serves a variety of dispute resolution needs
the County. These include dispute resolution training and education outreach in the schools,
mediation services for the community, small businesses, and Small Claims Court, referrals
from the courts and the District Attorney Office, and collaboration with the Probation
Department for victim offender mediation services, all of which have proven to save
significant dollars for County and Court services that may otherwise be needed.
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Currently, the staffing for this program includes 6.5 FTE positions at an annual cost of
approximately $518,000, excluding support services and other overhead costs. Three and a
half of these positions were converted from contract services during the last budget hearing.
Deletion of a vacant half-time Fluman Relations Coordinator I/II position valued at about

$37,000 has been included in the FY03 Recommended Budget as part of the County

Executive Office's proposal to meet its budget reduction target. The program is funded from a
combination of Alternative Dispute Resolution Trust Fund dollars that are generated from
court filing fees ($202,000 for FY02), and from the General Fund for the balanee of the
program costs.
CONSEQUENCES OF NEGATTVE ACTION

The FY03 Recommended Budget will not reflect the latest revised revenue and
reimbursement estimates for the Office of Fluman Relations budget resulting in an
overstatement of projected available resources.
STEPS EOT LOWING APPROVAL

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OBA will incorporate the revisions into the Final Approved Budget and into the Salary
Ordinance Amendment reflecting all of the position changes that the Board has approved.

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