Clerk’s Offer to Retire May Save $1 Million

San Diego County Clerk Robert Zumwalt offered Friday to take an early retirement that would allow a money-saving consolidation of his office with the county recorder’s staff.

Zumwalt’s departure, if approved by the Board of Supervisors on July 9, is expected to save the county more than $1 million over the rest of Zumwalt’s four-year term that is scheduled to end Dec. 31, 1994. The county is facing a budget deficit of at least $29 million for the fiscal year that begins Monday.

Last year, voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure calling for the merger of the county clerk and recorder staffs by 1995, or sooner if either elected official left office before then.

Zumwalt, 58, oversees a staff of 20 and an annual budget of $768,000. His department issues marriage licenses, performs weddings, registers fictitious business names and registers notaries public and process servers. His staff will initially be merged into Recorder Annette J. Evans’ department, though some may later be dispersed into other county positions, said county spokesman Bob Lerner.

No layoffs are planned “at this time,” Lerner said.

Last year, Zumwalt lost most of his staff when the Superior Court absorbed the 130 court clerks who had reported to Zumwalt. Zumwalt fought the move up to the state Supreme Court but lost.