Fresno County probation chief Linda Penner is the latest department head to offer dire warnings of how the county's budget shortfall could imperil her operations. Among the cuts she's proposed: Closing the Elkhorn boot camp.

Penner, along with other county department heads, submitted her proposed budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year on Monday. She says she needs another $6.9 million to keep her department running at the same level next year and, with cuts required, was forced to put the Elkhorn Correctional Facility in Caruthers on the chopping block. The boot-camp-like facility, which opened in 1997, houses inmates ages 14 to 18. Many of them committed property crimes ranging from vandalism to theft.

Penner also is proposing to close a 30-bed pod at the new juvenile justice campus and lay off probation officers.

But Penner says she is not conceding that the boot camp, which has 180 beds, will close.
"I don't think anyone wants to close it," she said. "The truth is, I need more money."

Penner has begun telling her staff what cuts she has proposed. And word is spreading. Some county workers have tipped The Bee to the proposals.

County officials say they don't have enough discretionary money -- cash they can spend as they see fit -- to fill all the departments' needs. The shortfall, once pegged at $10 million, has now grown to more than $30 million, county officials have said.

Board chairman Henry Perea says no decisions about the boot camp has been made. He said the board does not have a recommended budget yet.

Sheriff Margaret Mims and District Attorney Elizabeth Egan both said last week that they could lose millions of dollars under a budget proposal that divides up the county's discretionary dollars. Mims said she may be forced to lay off deputies and close floors of the jail. Egan said she may have to lay off dozens of prosecutors.