PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County residents Monday called for more promotional efforts to draw tax-paying businesses, cost-conscious replacement of computer equipment and continue the new course of budgetary collaboration.
The budget hearing before the county commissioners Monday drew about 40 — mostly county employees, who shared their views on improving cost savings during a budget crisis.
“It appears that Jefferson County has put all its eggs into one basket . . . and it relates to land, not business,” said Joe D’Amico, president of Gardiner-based Security Services Northwest, which has been locked in a legal battle with the county to increase its third-party use, such as on-site military training.
Need to be ‘business friendly’
To increase revenues, D’Amico said, the county needs to be “a business-friendly community.”
He said the Coast Guard has wanted to train personnel at his Fort Discovery operations, which include shooting practice ranges.
“I can’t do that,” he said, because he is limited to training only his own security firm employees at the gun range so they meet state certification.
The county is laying off or eliminating through attrition the equivalent of 13.33 positions to help balance a 2009 budget during a harsh economic period that has drained county sales, real estate and property taxes.
Philip Morley, who walked into budget realities when he started as county administrator Oct. 16, took the budget proposal to the county commissioners Monday, calling for a 3.5 percent reduction — $561,194 — in general fund expenditures for 2009.
The county commissioners are expected to deliberate and approve the budget next Monday, which totals $48 million, 53.7 percent of which is going to staff salaries and benefits.
“The harsh reality is we need to look at our staffing levels,” Morley said.
Cape George resident Jim Hagen praised the county for taking a collaborative approach to budgeting with county department heads, but he urged the commissioners to focus on job creation.
Worse in 2009?
Jim Tracey, land-use attorney from Fred Hill Materials, who frequently gives advice to the commissioners during weekly public-comment periods, said the worst the county could do was to think things were not going to get worse in 2009.
Port Townsend-area resident Tom Thiersch urged the commissioners to save on software costs, saying its numbers for computer replacement were not credible.
He said the county could also consolidate its Web sites under one to create a unified presence to reduce or maintain costs.
Sheriff Mike Brasfield, who agreed to leave a deputy position unfilled, saving the county about $92,000 in salary and benefits, told the commissioners he hoped they would consider filling the position again if it is necessary and affordable.
Actual county layoffs were limited to the Department of Community Development, where six positions were recently eliminated because of faltering fees caused by plummeting building permits.
That department’s remaining staffers were cut to 36-hour work weeks, including Al Scalf, community development director, who also took a 10 percent pay cut.
The Community Development hour reductions amount to two full-time positions, Morley said.
A 4.3 percent staff reduction is proposed, leaving the county with 297.6 full-time-equivalent positions.
The latest budget news follows the county commissioners’ 2-1 vote declaring a budget emergency, with Commissioner David Sullivan opposed.
A total of $561,000 has been cut from the budget, Morley said, with none of those reductions yet mandated by the county or Morley.
Real estate taxes
The county administrator reported a county real estate excise tax decline of about 50 percent since 2006 — from $1.4 million to $650,000, and a 25 percent decrease in building and development review fees, about $300,000.
The commission authorized a hiring freeze and voted to use the county’s banked capacity for the general fund — a slight tax increase — leaving unused banked capacity for the road fund and conservation futures tax levy. That infused $473,171 in additional revenue.
Morley said for 2009, the banked capacity will amount to a tax increase of about $25.02 a year for the average home.
He explained that every year the commissioners have chosen not to take banked capacity has meant a $700,000-a-year savings to taxpayers.
Banked capacity can be re-¬created once the economy recovers, he said.
Beginning in 1986, the Legislature allowed local governments to levy less than the maximum increase in property taxes allowed under law without losing the ability to levy higher taxes later, if necessary.
This provision encouraged taxing districts to levy only what they needed rather than the maximum allowable.
Prior to that, taxing districts that took less than the maximum, at that point 6 percent annually, permanently lost some of their levying capacity.
The banked capacity concept allowed districts to be more fiscally conservative without being penalized.
Sullivan said the county needs to work more with regional organizations such as the Peninsula Development Association and state and federal level partners to spur economic development.
He said more lobbying and monitoring of what goes on in the state capital was also necessary to follow legislation that could affect the county.
Morley said the budget is intended to save funds for the future while giving the county some spending flexibility. He said part of the budget’s goal was to “tread lightly” to retain programs and services close to existing levels when possible.
He pointed out that a 2003 survey showed that taxpayers are most concerned about law and justice, roads and public health, so those service areas are considered priorities.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
