Quick Take
The threat of mass firings of federal workers has a number of industries concerned about the future of their services, even if many in Santa Cruz County say they have not heard of any local layoffs.
The Trump administration’s moves to significantly reduce the federal workforce has sent chills through federal agencies and workers in Santa Cruz County; however, many agencies have not been hit yet with firings or layoffs and still do not know what the future might look like.
Widespread federal cuts have been a defining feature of President Donald Trump’s return to office. The president’s Department of Government Efficiency, led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has sought to drastically cut down on government spending and significantly reduce the federal workforce.
According to the California Employment Development Department, there were 536 federal workers in Santa Cruz County as of the second quarter of 2024. About 56% of those — or 302 workers — are employed by the U.S. Postal Service. The most recent EDD labor market report, released in January, showed 500 federal workers in the county as of December, though it does not capture the period covered by the Trump administration’s cuts.
Trump said last Friday that he could put the USPS under control of the Commerce Department, despite the agency operating as an independent organization for over 50 years. USPS spokesperson Kristina Uppal told Lookout on Tuesday that she did not have any information regarding possible layoffs, firings or cuts, but added that the agency is still hiring in the South Bay and Central Coast regions, the latter of which includes Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz County Agricultural Commissioner David Sanford told Lookout that he has not heard of any federal agriculture officials who have been cut locally, but said that possibility is “certainly a concern.”
“When you’re talking federal for ag, you’re talking about things like the United States Department of Agriculture and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service,” he said. “Those guys work throughout the whole area; they’re stationed up and down the coast from Salinas to Santa Cruz.”
Sanford said that anything being cut on a whim is “not good for the industry at all” and that the agencies involved in agriculture affect more parts of everyday life than some think.
“Inspectors are doing really important work for public health, and thinking about them being summarily cut is not good for agriculture,” he said. “The trickle-down effects can impact local agencies as well that receive certain federal money through the Farm Bill, let’s say. It’s not positive at all.”
So far, farmers in Santa Cruz County haven’t been directly affected by job cuts to federal agencies outside the county.
“We haven’t been told of any cuts that will affect us or any other farmers,” Juan Gonzalez, chief financial officer at organic vegetable producer Lakeside Organic Gardens in Watsonville, said via email.
Fogline Farm owner Caleb Barron processes his poultry at a slaughterhouse in Modesto, which is inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture, but he hasn’t heard of any changes to the inspection schedule. “There’s only one inspector on site every day,” said Barron. “It would be bad for sure if inspectors were laid off, but I haven’t heard of that happening.”
Robert Ratner, director of the county’s Housing for Health division, said federal cuts happening outside of Santa Cruz County could have drastic consequences for local operations, too. He said a lot of the resources that counties use to address homelessness come from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and are then funneled through that agency’s Community Planning and Development office, where Ratner said there are “huge layoffs and cuts planned.”
Ratner said Santa Cruz County gets around $6.2 million each year through HUD for homelessness prevention projects, but the cloudy federal outlook raises big questions for the future of that funding.
“A lot of the contractors who are getting money to pay rents and pay for providers are not getting their contracts renewed,” he said. “So are we going to get money or not to keep this going?”
Ratner also said that some people with subsidized rents rely on the federal government to provide nonprofits or the housing authority with money to help pay their rents. If that funding is cut, “people might lose their housing, might lose services, and might lose jobs.”
And as agencies await, answers do not appear to be on the horizon.
“There’s not enough staff at the HUD offices who know what’s happening to be able to tell us at the local level,” Ratner said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could see cuts too. The Hill reported that an anonymous source told it that mass firings are set to hit the agency “imminently.” NOAA Fisheries’ Santa Cruz laboratory is located at UC Santa Cruz’s Coastal Science Campus on the Westside. NOAA public affairs official Susan Buchanan did not respond to Lookout’s request for comment by publication time, and a National Weather Service meteorologist declined to comment.
The Social Security Administration has an office in downtown Santa Cruz. The district manager, Maria Perez, did not return Lookout’s request for comment by publication time.
Lily Belli contributed to this report.
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