Like much of the region, El Dorado County is reeling from a meltdown in the mortgage and building industries. The county budget is balanced at the moment, but officials are projecting a $5 million to $8 million deficit for the coming year.

The county is also braced for the opening of the massive Red Hawk Indian Casino. It will bring 1,700 new jobs, which is welcome. However, it also will increase traffic on already-overburdened Highway 50 and put more pressure on the county's criminal justice and social welfare systems.

Voters will elect two new supervisors in November to tackle the county's challenges. In District 1, which includes parts of El Dorado Hills and Cameron Park, voters will choose between John Knight and Harry Morris.

Both are experienced and capable. Knight is a member of the county Planning Commission and the El Dorado Fire District Board. Norris is a former school board member who currently sits on the El Dorado Irrigation District Board.

Both would make good supervisors. Both support Measure Y, the county ballot proposal that will loosen restrictions on new developments that increase traffic congestion.

And both want to reduce the ability of supervisors to meddle in day-to-day management of the county.

To accomplish that, they support a charter amendment to create a county executive with more direct authority over county department heads.

The lack of sufficient retail is another big issue in El Dorado County. Residents complain that they have to drive down Highway 50 to Folsom or Sacramento for shopping. This deprives El Dorado of badly needed sales tax revenue.

Knight, a former banker, spent 16 years in commercial real estate helping companies locate to El Dorado County. That practical experience gives Knight the edge in this competitive race.

In District 2, which stretches from El Dorado Hills to Kirkwood, the contrast for voters is more stark.

Ray Nutting has already served eight years on the Board of Supervisors between 1993 and 2001. He comes from a fourth-generation El Dorado County ranching family and manages agricultural properties and forest lands. He is an expert on fire safety issues, useful in a county where drought and forest fires are an ever-present danger.

Barbara Smiley moved to El Dorado eight years ago. She is a community volunteer manager for the Marshall Medical Center and a renter, a rarity for local elected officials in El Dorado. Her job requires that she coordinate private and government sector resources to help people in need.

Nutting is the more conservative of the two. He says he will be aggressive about bringing more commercial development to El Dorado County. He also says he may recommend furloughs to address the county budget deficit.

Rather than furloughs, Smiley wants to make the county bureaucracy more efficient. She clearly has a better feel for the social service delivery system and practical experience about how to meet the needs of the poor and elderly. She also is determined to make county government more accessible.

Nutting is better-known. He almost won the race outright in June. He has experience and is perhaps the safer choice, but he has had his opportunity to serve, and the county would benefit from leaders with a fresh perspective.

In this race between very different candidates, Smiley is the better choice. As a renter and relative newcomer, she will bring a fresh and much-needed perspective to El Dorado County government. She also has a track record of addressing the needs of the poor and disadvantaged that will be useful in the hard times this region and the nation face.

Taken together, Smiley and Knight will bring a balance of experience and new ideas to the Board of Supervisors. And balance is useful in the changing world of El Dorado County government.