Budget Squeeze Forces County Into Virtual Promotion Freeze : Economy: Careers are left in limbo as department heads must demonstrate urgent need to justify the elevation of workers.

SANTA ANA —  Amid the many budget cuts and bureaucratic restructurings that the county is pondering, officials have put into place a virtual freeze on promotions that could stall career plans for hundreds of county employees.

The plan, begun in December, means no one among the county work force of 17,000 people will be promoted for the time being unless there is an urgent need or an employee had been filling the post temporarily before the freeze, officials said.

Any exceptions to the policy must pass through the county administrator’s office and be approved by top county officials. Promotions were previously left to department heads.

The promotion freeze comes as county administrators look at eliminating many of about 1,700 now-vacant positions and taking other severe measures to cut into an expected budget shortfall of more than $60 million for the coming fiscal year. A decision on those vacant positions is expected in February by the Board of Supervisors.

“There’s much greater scrutiny (of county positions) in an attempt to reduce costs,” said Michael Adams, administrative manager in the county’s Personnel Department.

He estimated that the number of people unable to move up because of the freeze could be in the hundreds.

The county has had a hiring freeze since last year. And with the new promotion policy still in its infancy, employees and union representatives are waiting to see what may come next.

“At this point in time, I have to agree (with county officials) that if there’s no money in the budget, this is one of the avenues we have to go down,” said Tim Miller, president of Local 787 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents about 700 county workers.

“It’s better than laying off people,” Miller said.

But some administrators are worried about the impact on morale. “There’s a lot of nervousness and uneasiness about what the future holds,” said Bob Griffith, chief deputy director at the Social Services Agency. “People are just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

No one is certain how long the promotions freeze may last or how many positions may be affected. But in the Social Services Agency alone in recent weeks, officials have been unable to promote 20 technicians--employees who do welfare case work with the public--to the level of supervisor, Griffith said. Instead, each supervisor has had to handle a few more employees.

“Depending on how long it lasts and how difficult it is to fill these positions, it could become a real problem,” he said.

The effects of the freeze are not limited to low-level managers. When Deputy Dist. Atty. Bryan F. Brown leaves for private practice in early February after a celebrated career prosecuting killers, his much-sought-after position will be frozen.

The district attorney’s office will need permission from county officials to fill Brown’s position by promotion--or else have a prosecutor take over Brown’s duties without the title or more pay.

But there are no guarantees.

“That position is frozen just like all the others. . . . Everything’s on hold,” county Budget Director Ronald S. Rubino said.

“We’re in a tough situation,” he said. “We’re in a period of retrenchment, and we’re trying to live within the dollars that are available.”

But Rubino said the current re-evaluation of jobs and responsibilities could produce a more finely tuned and cost-effective county government.

“Out of every disaster comes opportunity,” he said.