PORT ANGELES — When Clallam County Assessor Pam Rushton was told the assessor’s office would have to reduce its reliance on the county’s general fund by 7 percent, she said, “It was very clear in my department that there was no excess to be cut.”
The assessor’s office was just one of the county’s 18 departments that participated in “the 7 percent exercise,” in which they reduced their impact to the county’s general fund by 7 percent in an effort to decrease the preliminary budget’s predicted $4.2 million deficit.
Each department reduced their impact on the general fund through finding new revenue sources, reducing expenditures or eliminating positions.
Some departments, like the assessor’s office, weren’t able to leverage new revenue sources, Chief Financial Officer Mark Lane said.
In the assessor’s office, expenditures were already as low as they could be, Rushton said.
“[Cuts] would have to be personnel,” she said.
The assessor’s office lost its senior exemptions and audits administrative specialist. Now, Rushton said the workload will have to be redistributed to other people who already have heavy workloads.
“I’m not sure how it is going to happen, everyone is already full,” she said. “It’s going to delay the process quite a bit.”
Although the county tried to minimize the head-count reduction as much as possible, Lane said almost 11 full-time employee positions were removed from general fund expenses.
“The general fund is 71 [or] 72 percent people costs,” Lane said. “That’s a reality we can’t get around.”
Departments either deferred hiring for open positions, eliminated positions, reduced position hours or changed the way the positions were funded.
In addition to the assessor’s administrative specialist position being cut, the Department of Community Development (DCD) lost one planner position, information technology lost its network services manager position, the prosecuting attorney’s office lost one deputy prosecutor position, the Washington State University extension lost the animal agriculture agent position and juvenile services lost a mental health counselor position and a part-time administrative specialist position.
Some of the cut positions were already unfilled, but when staff members did have to be cut, the county attempted to find other county positions the staff member could transfer to, County Administrator Todd Mielke said during a November work session.
“We worked really hard not to displace people who want to continue working for the county,” Mielke said.
In total, seven full-time employees were notified their positions would be eliminated, Lane said. Six of them chose to work for the county in other open positions.
Although staff workloads will increase due to the employee cuts, many department heads said they worked to ensure service levels will not change.
The following positions shifted to funding sources other than the general fund: the auditor’s title examiner, health and human services administrative staff, a sheriff’s office command staff support position and some services provided by other staff members.
Departments also cut other expenditures.
“It certainly wasn’t fluff in any way, shape or form,” Parks, Fair and Facilities Director Donald Crawford said. “[But] if we economize for a year or two, we can do with less.”
Those two measures reduced general fund expenses by $1.9 million, Lane said.
The departments also were able to identify alternative revenue sources totalling about $3 million, Lane said.
Some departments found alternative county funds that could replace general fund dollars.
For example, the prosecuting attorney’s office, district court and superior court were able to utilize increased funding from the chemical dependency/mental health fund, which is separate from the general fund, for work done in therapeutic courts, Lane said.
Other departments increased revenue from other governmental sources. For example, the sheriff’s office increased daily jail bed rates that are charged to local governments, found anticipated Medicaid revenue for some jail services and will collect indirect costs for various grants that are managed, Sheriff Brian King said.
Some departments, such as DCD, raised their fees, keeping them in line with inflation and comparable rural jurisdictions.
After the 7 percent exercise, Mielke said some departments had pared down as low as possible, without cutting out services the county is required by law to provide.
For example, Mielke said District Court II has been reduced to two staff members funded by the general fund, in addition to the judge. When one person is on vacation or out sick, a second person is needed to open the court.
“I really don’t see how you can get below two staff people to perform a mandated function,” Mielke said.
If funding challenges persist into future years, Mielke said there would be fewer departments that could perform budget reduction exercises without violating services that the county is required to provide by law.
However, Lane predicts this exercise is something that will probably be needed on a recurring basis.
“I don’t see things getting easier for us in the near term,” he said.
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
