The Grays Harbor County commissioners will bring forward a resolution for proposed budget reductions, currently flagging nearly $414,000 in cuts to the general fund.
Officially known as a “supplemental budget reduction,” the resolution process likely will begin on Monday, March 23, when the commissioners will set a date for a public hearing, which could take place as early as April 6, according to Jenna Amsbury, the clerk to the board.
Cuts listed in county commissioner materials are similar to cuts that had been suggested by commissioners Wes Cormier and Vickie Raines during a meeting with department heads on Feb. 25. It had been created by the county’s budget team, Budget Director Brenda Sherman and Budget Manager Marilyn Lewis.
“These (reductions) come from ideas that had been brought up during the budget workshops and from the departments that have said they had some savings in different places, so they worked up a few of these (numbers) for you to review and take action when you’re ready,” Amsbury explained on Monday.
The cuts:
- Taking the biggest hit would be the Sheriff’s Office and the county jail where the department would not fill a currently vacant patrol position and a vacant corrections position, saving more than $147,000 (more than $52,000 for the patrol position and more than $24,000 for the personnel benefits associated with that position, and about $48,000 for the corrections position and more than $22,000 in benefits).
A second corrections position will shifted to litter patrol with the inmates, Raines said, which could result in a savings to the department and the county.
• More than $86,000 in the Prosecutor’s Office, including more than $63,000 from a vacant deputy prosecutor position and nearly $22,500 in personnel benefits.
• A cut to the juvenile department would see a secretary position remaining unfilled for a savings of more than $37,000 in salaries and wages, and nearly $17,000 for personnel benefits for a total of $54,169 saved.
• Nearly $50,000 would be freed in the facility services department, including more than $31,500 from a vacant custodian position and more than $17,000 in personnel benefits.
• About $44,000 would be cut for the planning and building department through personnel changes affecting salaries and wages and personnel benefits.
• The commissioners also plan to lower their contribution to Public Health and Social Services Department, transferring $25,000 from that department’s fund back into the general fund.
During the Feb. 25 meeting Public Health Director Joan Brewster had cautioned commissioners against reducing their contribution saying every dollar the county contributes is a dollar the department can use to leverage for additional dollars from the state.
• Some $8,000 would be cut from the Coroner’s Office, including more than $6,000 in salaries and wages due to a retirement and reallocation of duties, and more than $1,800 in personnel benefits.
Additional cuts could be made to the general fund. Contributions to Greater Grays Harbor Inc. and the Council of Governments could be made from a fund other than the general fund, and cuts could come to the commissioners’ budget.
A $20,000 cut to the commissioners’ budget was suggested by Cormier on Feb. 25, however, that cut intentionally was left off the suggested cuts presented on Monday morning because the board currently is in the process of hiring a new secretary.
“We didn’t know if we would want to wait until we found out how we were handling the position, so we didn’t know how much savings we would have because it could be more or less,” Amsbury said. “We will have savings, the amount just will vary a little bit.”
Also not included were cuts to the Assessor’s Office where an employee could possibly take an early retirement this year, but those details are not yet clear.
Though some departments are taking a heavy blow with the 2015 budget reductions, the department heads, both appointed and elected, have known that 2015 general fund budget reductions were coming. This year’s budget shows the county making it through the year without ending up with a negative starting balance, but the expenditures outweigh the revenue, and the current deficit comes in at about $2.5 million, which would be balanced with funds from reserves. Eventually, reserves run out if they’re not restocked, and by 2017, if projections hold true, the county could be nearly $2 million in the hole.
The situation reached an apex in January 2015 when Commissioner Frank Gordon called for either a 10-percent cut across all departments in the general fund, or reducing the work week to four days.
Those suggested solutions were made public through a memo penned and hand-delivered by Gordon to department heads and the media on Jan. 21.
Commissioner Wes Cormier said Gordon’s suggestion was akin to “taking an ax to the budget rather than a scalpel” and Commissioner Vickie Raines called the memo “fear mongering.”
Since then, appointed and elected department heads have met with the commissioners separately and together to bring suggested cuts from their own departments. A meeting on Feb. 25 saw a frustrated Board of Commissioners and department heads gathered to discuss how to trim excess from their already-emaciated department budgets.
And while each department hoped to avoid the ax (or the scalpel) for their own budgets, nobody denied that the county’s need to make cuts.
The proposed cuts of $413,000 is short of an important benchmark. As stated during the Feb. 25 budget workshop, the county needs to cut at least $700,000 from the 2015 budget to minimize the deficit enough to allow reserves to remain at the county-mandated minimum of 16 percent.
Other changes could be made to the suggested cuts. The departments and commissioners will continue communicating on reductions as the resolution moves forward. The commissioners are moving forward with the knowledge that changes will be made.
“It can be a working resolution,” Cormier said.
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