San Diego County's chief financial officer says IOUs from the state of California won't hurt immediately.
CFO Don Steuer says health and human service programs are facing immediate cuts, but he says the county was ready. He says local officials set aside extra money as they realized the state's money problems were getting worse. Steuer says the county can still meet its obligations for a couple of months.
"The situation is bad obviously, but in degrees of bad I'd rather be receiving an IOU instead of a deferral, because an IOU is in fact a promise to pay."
Steuer says some local banks have agreed to cash the IOU's. He says that helps improve the county's cash situation. Steuer says if the budget stand off drags into September, it's likely the county will make across the board budget cuts instead of targeting services that are losing state funding.
