In their continuing attempt to balance the budget, the Plumas County Supervisors ordered layoff notices be sent to four county employees.

“I hate this,” said Supervisor Lori Simpson said during the board’s Sept. 4 meeting.

“None of us are happy with layoffs,” Supervisor Jon Kennedy said.

The four slated to lose their jobs include a full-time planning executive, a senior building inspector, a three-quarters time assistant museum director and a less than half-time fair fiscal coordinator.

When Simpson questioned the status of the senior building inspector, she learned the individual is currently on leave.

County Counsel Craig Settlemire reminded the board that their authorization merely begins a notification period.

“You could make changes or the department could come up with other savings,” Settlemire said.

Reducing fair and museum personnel led to a discussion of how that would affect hours of operation for the fair and museum.

“There is no fluff anywhere in our general fund budget,” Kennedy said. “It is down to closing everything in the community.”

“Maybe some of the beggars need to be shipped elsewhere,” suggested Sandy Hopkins, a member of the Plumas-Sierra Tea Party Patriots, who had spoken out on behalf of law enforcement during the public comment period at the beginning of board meeting. “Over one-third of the people here are on assistance.”

Supervisor Robert Meacher explained that the budgets that served people-in-need weren’t heavily funded out of the general fund.

Simpson told Hopkins their budget decisions kept her awake at night and that “It’s really, really hard. My father was a deputy,” she said.

In late August, the supervisors voted to cut $500,000 from the sheriff’s budget and were scheduled to discuss cutting from the jail Monday.

Kennedy told Hopkins that to preserve the sheriff, district attorney and probation budgets, it would require shutting down other facilities. He said closing the fairgrounds ultimately would mean “less money for the sheriff.”