By: Jose Martinez with SEIU Local 1021
Saturday, April 18, 2009

In this historic moment of staggering financial collapse, Sonoma County is intensifying its own fiscal crisis—and the impact on its most vulnerable residents—in order to cheat former employees out of the health care the County promised them in return for years of loyal public service. It’s a complicated story that County taxpayers have a right to understand.

The County is cutting public services across the board. County Administrator Bob Deis has ordered department heads to budget for cuts in public services as deep as 15%. Programs slated for elimination include veterans’ services, the Orenda Center’s drug and alcohol diversion program, domestic violence services, and the helicopter-borne paramedic and rescue program to which many County residents owe their lives. Other County programs are slated for significant reductions.