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Mendocino supervisors press departments to trim vacancies, weigh voluntary buyouts amid $2.6M shortfall
Summary
At an extended April 22 budget workshop the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors pressed departments to cut costs, consider voluntary separation incentives and remove long‑vacant positions from the allocation table as staff work to close a remaining $2.6 million general‑fund gap.
MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. — The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors directed staff April 22 to pursue immediate, structured reductions in vacant positions and to expand a voluntary separation incentive program as part of efforts to close a projected $2.6 million general‑fund shortfall for fiscal 2025‑26.
Deputy Chief Executive Tony Ricks and acting Assistant CEO Sarah Pierce presented a budget workshop that showed departments had submitted about $624,000 in additional reductions after an April 8 hearing, but staff said more cuts and structural changes will be necessary to balance the books. Pierce told the board that savings assumptions include a conservative 6 percent turnover estimate and a hiring freeze to realize roughly $8 million in potential general‑fund savings over a year if vacancies remain unfilled.
The board discussed a multi‑step plan: remove vacant positions that are not in public safety or in active recruitment from the county’s position allocation table, delete positions vacant longer than 10 months (going forward), and offer a voluntary separation incentive program (VSIP) to all employees. Sherry Johnson, human resources director, said the 10‑month threshold was based on the average vacancy length for non‑public‑safety positions but that HR would work with department heads to refine which roles are essential.
Supervisor Ted Williams and others urged the board to add a second pass that would let department heads and the CEO flag short‑term vacancies that are nevertheless critical to operations. Pointing to the risk that simply cutting lines on paper will shift work onto remaining employees without saving money, Williams said: “If we're just switching who does the task, we're not actually reducing the work, and that's what the county pays for.” He and other supervisors asked staff for a prioritized, strategic list of which of the funded vacancies would be retained if only a fraction could be re‑filled.
Patrick Hickey, a field representative for SEIU Local 1021, told the board earlier in public comment that “the county ranks are filled with dedicated and passionate staff members who take pride in the work that they do,” and urged targeted hiring rather than a broad freeze.
Pierce said staff will return with a more detailed proposal, including a list of recommended positions for deletion, a process for department‑level reorganization requests, and a proposal for using one‑time funds to smooth near‑term obligations where appropriate. The board voted unanimously to accept staff recommendations as amended and asked departments to submit ideas for one‑time investments that would reduce ongoing costs.
Why it matters: County leaders say structural and one‑time steps are both required to stabilize finances and preserve core services; supervisors emphasized protecting public‑safety staffing while seeking savings elsewhere.
What’s next: Staff will compile a strategic list of vacancies to prioritize for retention or elimination and return with updated budget tables at the next workshops in May and June.
