The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on Friday approved a $3.9 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2007, including strategies for plugging a daunting $164.5 million deficit.
Major service cuts include $27.5 million in reductions for the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. Additionally, the budget uses $123.8 million of one-time funds to support ongoing operations at the hospital, of which $77 million comes from SCVMC budget reserves.
County spokeswoman Gwendolyn Mitchell said reserve funds countywide are shrinking while deficits are projected through fiscal year 2010.
It’s a bleak time, she said, and the “year of reckoning” could be 2008, at which point the county may be forced to make drastic cuts to service levels.
For more information on the budget visit www.sccgov.org.
