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1. Reduce Top Heavy Staffing

   
   The Problem: San Mateo County government has more administrators supervising fewer employees than other Bay Area counties. Our County’s workforce has 5.7 employees for every supervisor. In Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties, staffing is about 9 employees for every supervisor.
   Holober’s Plan: Reduce excessive administrative positions, using attrition and incentives where possible, to get closer to Bay Area staffing standards.
   Estimated Savings: $25 million.

   (Source:“CR 17 Current Year to Date Totals {SYS} [County of San Mateo] January 31, 2011.” Total working budget wage and benefit cost for entire County payroll is $753,080,359. Savings projection is based on conservative estimate of $150 million wage and benefit cost for supervisors and administrators.)

2. Reduce County Costs for Managers’ Pensions

   
   The Problem: The highest paid County managers earn $200,000 or more—and they contribute less towards their pensions than the custodians, nurses’ aides, and clerical workers who earn a fraction of their pay. A manager hired at age 30 pays only 4.6% out of his paycheck for the pension cost, while a janitor hired at the same age pays 9.3%. This disparity is demoralizing to workers and costly to taxpayers.
   Holober’s Plan: Top administrators should contribute at the same rate for pensions as other County employees. Richard has been able to negotiate fair pension contribution levels in his role with the Community College District, and he would work hard to bring the County’s pension costs for management down to a reasonable level.
   Estimated Savings: $6 million.

   (Source: “Employer Pick-Up of Employee Contributions” data provided by County Manager’s office March 14, 2011)

3. Improve Medical Billing & Collections

   
   The Problem: The San Mateo Medical Center is obligated to provide health services to low income residents. But the County has a disastrous record of collecting bills, including overdue payments from insurance companies for insured patients. More than 100,000 uncollected bills are gathering dust.
   Holober’s Plan: We need to make insurance companies pay their bills. Our medical billing procedures must be overhauled to raise the collection rate to at least the industry average. Revenue generated by aggressive collection efforts will help us to maintain the quality of health services our residents deserve. Reforming our billing process will not only help us recover past due bills, but will also deliver ongoing benefits in the future.
   Estimated Revenue: $6 million.

   (Source: April 16, 2010 letter from Jean Fraser, Chief, County Health System, to Nadia Bledsoe and Brady Calman)

4. Cut Personal Use of County Vehicles

   
   The Problem: San Mateo County assigns over 550 County-owned vehicles for employee use. (Not including sheriffs’ patrol cars and county motor pool vehicles.) The 2009 San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury found that our vehicle use practices were far more costly than comparable Bay Area counties.
   Holober’s Plan: Cut personal use of county vehicles for non-work related commuting. Reduce the number of county-owned passenger vehicles. Pay mileage only for county business.
   Estimated Savings: $4 million.

   (Source: 2009-2010 Civil Grand Jury Report: San Mateo County’s Vehicle Fleet Management and Employee Vehicle Reimbursement Programs.)

5. The Rent is Too Damn High

   
   The Problem: San Mateo County spends $13 million a year on rent for leased facilities. Meanwhile some County owned properties are underutilized.
   Holober’s Plan: Move some programs into County owned facilities. Take advantage of the current buyers’ market in commercial real estate to renegotiate leases and reduce the rent.
   Estimated Savings: $3 million.

   (Source: “San Mateo County Leased Facilities May 2010”, data provided by County Manager’s office March 28, 2011)

6. Some Pensions Cost 70% of Payroll–Control These Costs

   
   The Problem: San Mateo County’s pension costs soared from an estimated $101 million two years ago to $146 million this fiscal year. One department has only 8.5% of the County’s employees, but it racks up 23% of the entire County’s pension costs - with pensions that cost taxpayers 70 cents on top of every payroll dollar.
   Holober’s Plan: Local cities with comparable early retirement pensions have substantially lower funding costs than the County. Our Community College District has been able to negotiate fair compensation packages that require much lower employer pension contributions than the County average. Honest but tough negotiations will bring the County’s pension costs closer to the area average.
   Estimated Savings: $6 million.

   (Source: “Current Level Budget, Salary and Benefits, Position Reconciliation, February 22, 2011, Section 5.2” and “Safety Retirement”, data provided by County Manager’s office, March 14, 2011 and March 28, 2011)