TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Kern County leaders face a law enforcement scenario that was unthinkable a year ago.

Sheriff Donny Youngblood may close the minimum security building at Lerdo Jail and let the 3,000 inmates housed there each year go free.

His only other option to balance his budget is to lay off a swatch of extra sheriff's deputies.

Nobody wants that to happen -- not Youngblood, not county supervisors, not union leaders and not county budget officials.

"It's unacceptable. We have to have some kind of ability to incarcerate people or the whole system breaks down," said Supervisor Don Maben.

But Youngblood needs somewhere between $5 million and $6.5 million to avoid the closure.

Collecting that kind of money will be hard while the county struggles with a $72 million estimated shortfall in discretionary spending cash and the threat of the state taking an additional $30 million.

"We're trying to find more money in our own budget," Youngblood said. "Now we're between a rock and a hard place. If we don't get the money I have to decide between cutting deputies off the street and closing the jail."

He knows the decision he'll make -- close the minimum security jail.

Youngblood said his primary responsibility is putting deputies on the streets to protect the public.

He and county budget analysts spent Wednesday and Thursday searching for a way out of having to make that decision.

None of the ideas floated were enough to solve the problem, Youngblood said.

Kern County Supervisors could pull the money from other departments, said Supervisor Ray Watson.

"We can go back to all of the departments that we've already cut, which will devastate all of those departments further," Watson said.

Watson would like to see the county's employee unions step up to the plate.

Unions have been asked to make major concessions in upcoming contract negotiations in light of the budget situation. The county is asking all union members to pay a share of the cost of their health benefits and to contribute to their pension accounts.

Currently only newer employees are required to make benefit contributions.

According to County Administrative Office calculations earlier this month the county could save $4.4 million if all the unions agreed to have all their members pay 20 percent of their health care premiums.

Watson thinks its only fair that all union members pay a portion of their benefit costs rather than just a few.

"I know it's something they don't want to do," he said. "But they're enjoying benefits that other county employees have to pay for."

The county's law enforcement unions -- the Kern Law Enforcement Association and the Kern County Detention Officers Association -- face the most pressure. Their members' jobs are on the line. Youngblood said union concessions wouldn't save all law enforcement union jobs.

But Watson said he believes union help could save the jail and balance the county's budget.

Attempts to contact law enforcement union officials Friday were not successful.

The Kern County Detention Officers Association has recently launched an advertising campaign on billboards, radio and the Internet in an effort to highlight the value of their workers.

Supervisors are scheduled to take up discussion of the jail quandary Tuesday during their weekly meeting.