PORT TOWNSEND — Consider different hours for the Jefferson County Department of Community Development building department, improve productivity and unite the county and Port Townsend city and school district to pool supplies and save money.
Those were three suggestions made Monday night during a public hearing on Jefferson County’s $52.8 million budget proposed for 2010, which deeply cuts staff and expenses of county departments across the board.
All funding sources are down, said county Administrator Philip Morley, and so all county branches and departments together have made a 4.7 percent reduction amounting to $575,000, and are working to cut $500,000 more.
The proposed 2010 staffing levels would be at 287.55 full-time equivalents, 10 fewer employees than budgeted in 2009 and 23 fewer than in 2008.
The county commissioners are expected to consider approval of the 2010 budget when they meet Monday.
Pool supplies
David Harrington, Port Townsend School District facilities and maintenance manager, suggested that the county “work collaboratively” to buy supplies with the district and city of Port Townsend.
He also called for more discussion about the future of maintaining the county’s Memorial Athletic Field in Port Townsend, where school district sporting events are played.
“I think there’s a lot of things we can do to make that field viable,” Harrington said, suggesting a consortium be formed with the Port Townsend School District, Chimacum School District, the county and city of Port Townsend.
Threatened parks
Faced with the threat of closing county parks, the county Park and Recreation Department and its director, Matt Tyler, have successfully recruited volunteers to help with the upkeep of 10 of the county’s 19 parks, while the future of Memorial Field is still uncertain.
Other hits to the county budget, Morley said, included those to Public Health, which two months ago closed Environmental Health on Fridays, cut Public Health nurse support to many mothers of newborns and cut family planning clinics by one day a week.
Staff cuts include 2.75 full-time equivalents in Public Health and 2.64 FTEs in Parks and Recreation.
Building department
David Gieser, a Cape George contractor, said he was concerned about the county Building Department now being closed on Fridays, a result of county Department of Community Development cuts proposed in 2009 in which three were laid off.
In 2010, the department, which is short of construction revenues, plans a staff reduction of 3.8 full-time equivalent position. DCD cut staff by eight in December 2008 and laid off three more in August 2009.
“I feel like we are continuing to sit in a non-growth position with our county,” Gieser said, adding that there are too many committees and too much infighting.
“We’re giving the false impression that this is a county that doesn’t welcome new development,” he said.
‘Emasculating’
George Yount, former Port of Port Townsend director now retired, said he has watched the county’s budget crisis play out over the past 3 ½ years, blaming it on economic stress brought on by government deregulation and “emasculating” government.
“Some scream we are not doing enough for business,” Yount said. “I’m sorry, but I don’t buy that.”
Jefferson County resident Tom Thiersch called for more services with less staff.
“I say we’re not getting the increases in productivity that we deserve,” he said, saying that his taxes increased 13 percent.
Addressing the commissioners, Sheriff Tony Hernandez vowed that his office would continue to provide “the highest level of service, to work harder and do more with less.”
The Sheriff’s Office eliminated its undersheriff position, a deputy, a corrections officer and a data entry clerk but added staffing funded by grants and contracts, including a community policing officer, a West End deputy and a clerk.
County Clerk Ruth Gordon said her staff was also doing more with less. County Auditor Donna Eldridge said her department was cross-training staff to be more efficient.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
