RIVERSIDE – The Riverside County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a $4.77 billion budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year, boosting funding commitments for public safety and narrowing the county's projected budget deficit.

“Look at the state budget crisis and what's happening in counties across the state and the problems they're having, and compare that to Riverside County and where we are,” Supervisor John Tavaglione said before joining his four fellow board members in approving the spending plan.

“Yes, we have some challenges, but we have mechanisms in place to ensure we live within our means,” he said. “I'm generally happy with the way this turned out. As always, you (the Executive Office) have done a tremendous job.”

The new budget, which covers the period starting Tuesday through June 30, 2009, represents a roughly 7 percent increase over the 2007-08 fiscal year spending plan.

During budget hearings June 2, the county's Executive Office predicted a $20 million shortfall for 2008-09, the result of declining property tax receipts, contracting sales taxes and lower interest payments on county investments.

But in the last several weeks, new revenue sources were identified and expectations changed regarding how low property tax assessments may go in the next 11 months, prompting the Executive Office to slash the projected budget deficit to $12.6 million.

“The deficit may be gone by the end of the fiscal year, but who knows,” said Rob Rockwell, budget analyst for the Executive Office. “We're asking department managers to be proactive in managing their budgets. We're telling them, 'Look at the writing on the wall. Don't hire a bunch of people you really can't afford.'”

Rockwell said staff reductions probably won't be necessary this year, but said next year could be a different story, depending on whether the housing market recovers and assessed values on homes rebound, increasing the county's property tax income, which accounts for roughly half of its overall revenue.

Riverside County now ranks fourth in the state in the number of homes in some stage of foreclosure, according to Irvine-based RealtyTrac.

Supervisor Jeff Stone worried that the state's budget woes might leave the county in a financial lurch and recommended the board hold a “post-state budget review” to determine how much money the governor and Legislature plan to withhold from counties to fix the state's $17 billion structural deficit.

“If there is anything that makes me very nervous at this time, it's not knowing what the Legislature is going to do,” Stone said. “We have a lot of pass-through monies from the state that are used for social services. I hope there are no broad reductions that are going to impact our ability to provide social services for people who are in need in this county.”

The county's Department of Public Social Services has the largest budget of any department, at $755 million.

The sheriff-coroner-public administrator's budget increased to $514.5 million in 2008-09, compared to last year's $444 million.

The additional revenue will go toward hiring more jail guards and support staff at county correctional facilities, as well as forensic technicians and training officers, according to the Executive Office.

The new budget also supplies funds for the district attorney's office to hire six dozen people, including prosecutors, paralegals and investigators, by the end of the fiscal year.

The D.A.'s budget increased from $96 million last year to $107 million in the 2008-09 fiscal year.