Current Conditions
31°F - M/CLOUDY
(1939) (523) (459) (302) (285) (223) (203) (195) (164) (41) (17) (11)
The move, designed to improve efficiency across county departments, will save taxpayers about $900,000 next year, Commissioner Scott Martin said. It is the first time in modern history the county government has cut jobs.
Among the positions being cut are the county parks director and six other senior-level posts, some of which are part of restructuring efforts.
"This is not a happy day," Martin said. "We'll keep a lot of families in our thoughts and prayers. Change isn't easy."
The employees who will lose their jobs had all been notified by the time the cuts were announced at commissioners meeting Wednesday morning.
Their last day of work will be Dec. 18.
"This has been a very difficult and challenging process," Commissioner Craig Lehman said. "We're trying to be good stewards of county government, but this is impacting people's lives. I don't want to minimize or gloss over that."
The 16 full-time and three-part time positions being eliminated span eight county departments: engineering; tax assessment; courthouse maintenance; 150 N. Queen St. operations; parks maintenance; parks administration; the planning commission; and information technology.
Eight of the positions are senior-level posts — including that of parks director, senior planner at the county planning commission, deputy director in the tax assessment office and two assistant county engineers' positions.
"We're impacting people's lives and we're hurting people today," Commissioner Dennis Stuckey said. "There's nothing we can do about that except make the tough decision … show respect and ease the transition."
The commissioners provided the list of jobs eliminated but not the names of those losing the positions, even though many are known. The directors of the departments affected by the job cuts were said to be in a meeting and could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.
The cuts come as the commissioners work to fill an unspecified shortfall in next year's budget. Martin said the board is unwilling to vote for any tax increase.
"This is not the environment to be passing on these costs to taxpayers," he said.
The savings from the elimination of the 19 positions represents less than 1 percent of county spending and only a small fraction of its workforce of roughly 1,800 employees.
Martin said the positions being eliminated were identified through "internal and external efficiency revues" undertaken when it became clear this would be a difficult budget year.
He said there would be no further job cuts for 2010. "This is it," Martin said.
All departments had been asked to review staffing levels and services. Some reviews were conducted in-house while others were done by consultants.
Terry L. Kauffman, who served two terms as a county commissioner in the 1990s, said job cuts are rare at the courthouse.
"There have been many years when there were freezes or moratoriums on hiring, not filling positions when they came vacant," he said. "That's happened several times that I can think of. But I don't remember any layoffs. I do not recall ever hearing that."
The commissioners will hold a public meeting on the proposed budget on Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at 150 N. Queen St. in the first-floor conference room.
Commissioners also hope to freeze the salaries of all county employees, though doing so will be difficult.
The county has four unions, which represent the county's detectives, Children & Youth agency workers, court-appointed professionals and correctional officers. In an attempt to hold salaries down, the commissioners on Wednesday rejected, by a 2-1 vote, a spring arbitration award that gives county corrections officers raises in 2010 and 2011.
The arbitration panel gave the 185 corrections officers, who are represented by AFSCME Council 89, a 7 percent pay this year. The officers are contributing more toward their medical benefits. It awarded similar raises for 2010 and 2011.
"The county is, in effect, electing to treat the award as advisory for the years 2010 and 2011. That is, to say, not binding on the county," county solicitor Don Lefever said. "The most likely result is it will end up in the courts."
