PORT TOWNSEND — For the first time since 2002, an uncertain economy has led Jefferson County commissioners to call for a hiring freeze, requiring prior review and authorization for filling eight current job vacancies.
The move, formally approved through a resolution Monday, is intended to avoid future layoffs and help balance county expenditures and revenues.
A Dec. 8 public budget hearing is expected to be set with formal adoption Dec. 15. The final budget has to be published by Dec. 31.
“We are facing tougher economic times,” said new County Administrator Philip Morley, who was hired after the commissioners began the budget process and admits he is catching up with it.
Morley told the commissioners Monday that up to eight positions in county departments such as Health and Public Works have gone unfilled.
He said he was working with elected and other county department heads to “make less use of fund reserves.”
‘Very tight lens’
He urged the commissioners to view any new job positions created through “a very tight lens.”
The soft economy has left the county with a general fund budget nearly $1.5 million in the red. The general fund was off about $700,000 this time last year.
County leaders are already considering cuts in services, asking many of the county’s 320 employees to voluntarily work four nine-hour shifts for a 36-hour week.
Before the commissioners approved the hiring-freeze resolution Monday, the county was already not filling vacant staff positions and was limiting training and travel to only that which is mandatory. Employees are being asked to restrict driving of county vehicles whenever possible.
With Allen Sartin leaving the county as the second-in-command central services director, Morley said he has not decided what he will recommend with regard to filling that opening.
Sartin moved to Eddy County, N.M., to become county manager there.
Funding dilemma
Before he left in late September, Sartin said Jefferson County’s dilemma can be blamed on a loss of sales, excise and real estate tax revenues, construction declines, higher fuel, asphalt and transportation costs combined with the loss of federal grants and a loss of about $1.3 million in federal timber subsidy program funds for roads and schools.
Besides county offices headed by elected officials, the general fund also subsidizes key services such as public health, animal services and Washington State University Extension.
As scheduled, a preliminarily balanced budget must be presented to the county commissioners by Dec. 22, and they are required to adopt a final budget and present it to the state auditor by year’s end.
The commissioners are expected turn up the heat on their budget work this month.
Revenue losses already cited:
•âÇIn 2005, the county brought in $1.5 million in real estate excise tax.
Last year, the real estate excise tax came to $935,000, and this year it is projected at about $650,000.
With about $741,000 in debt service, it is normally paid by real estate excise tax.
•âÇCounty sales tax revenues are down 2 percent from $1.27 million from January-July 2007 to $1.23 million during the same period this year.
•SEnSNew construction is down $30 million in two years, with $118 million collected in 2006 and $88.7 collected in 2008.
Another point of concern is the state law that requires sales tax to remain at the base of sale.
For example, if a Jefferson County resident buys an item here that is delivered to Renton, the sales tax stays in Renton.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
