Sacramento County pulls portable restrooms from American River Parkway. More cuts made.

Sacramento County is pulling portable restrooms from the American River Parkway. It's just one cost-cutting move the county is putting in place to deal with money trouble in its Regional Parks Department.

Forty portable restrooms were already taken away during the winter months, and the county says they will not be coming back.

The parks department is also reducing hours that park entrances are staffed and closing vehicle access at four locations along the parkway.

Dianna Poggetto is executive director of the American River Parkway Foundation. She said she was surprised to learn about the mid-year cuts the county is making. 

CBS News Sacramento asked her about the impact of losing portable restrooms on trails. 

"I think it has an impact on the overall parkway," Poggetto said. "It also means human feces might be in other places and not going where it needs to go, so that could become also a health hazard.

"When you think about what our core competencies are of county government and health and human services, and unfortunately, regional parks, animal care, some of those fall lower on the totem pole."

Park ranger overtime is also being cutback. Last fiscal year, the county spent $450,000 on ranger overtime. So far this year, the number has shrunk to just $64,000. 

The Sacramento County Regional Parks Department is making these cuts to keep within its budget for this fiscal year. And it's facing deeper cuts in the year ahead, with the county facing a $100 million budget deficit.