PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County will be short of revenue in 2011 whether or not voters approve a 0.3 percent sales tax increase Nov. 2.
But the extra $380,000 projected revenue to the county from the sales tax hike would ease the pain.
Whatever the voters decide, county officials are now attempting to negotiate a wage freeze with unions that would save an estimated $290,000, County Administrator Philip Morley said.
Negotiations now are in progress with five bargaining units of the Teamsters and with the United Food and Commercial Workers union for a wage freeze, Morley said.
That’s what elected officials and department heads were told Wednesday during a budget strategy session.
Morley and Ann Sears, budget consultant, presented some details of the two budget forecasts, one based on additional sales tax revenue, which would result in a shortfall of more than $500,000, and one without the sales tax hike, would lead to a deficit of more than $900,000.
“I think we accomplished our goal,” Sears said Wednesday.
“We told them about the different scenarios, and showed what will be expected either way.”
The county has put a measure on the Nov. 2 general election ballot, Proposition 1, that would raise the county sales tax from the present 8.4 percent to 8.7 percent, or 3 cents for every $10 purchase.
Current projections for the 2011 budget without the passage of the measure are $15,256,321 in revenues with $16,164,362 in expenditures, for a shortfall of $908,041.
The county’s share of the projected revenue for the year if the measure passes — $380,000 — is less revenue than would be expected in 2012, since collection would begin on April 1 and the county would not receive any revenue until June.
The revenue from the sales tax hike would cut the projected county 2011 shortfall to $528,041.
If the measure passes, cuts still will be necessary, Morley said.
What cuts would be made has not been determined.
“We are continuing the budget process,” Morley said.
If the measure does not pass, the county has presented a list of potential cuts, including a deputy sheriff’s position and personnel cuts in animal control and prosecuting attorney’s office.
Whatever happens, the same group that met on Wednesday will reconvene on Nov. 3 to plot the path decided by voter action.
County officials have emphasized that money from the proposed tax increase would help support both Memorial Field and the Port Townsend Community Center.
This will be accomplished through an interlocal agreement with the city, which was approved this week by both the county commissioners and the Port Townsend City Council.
The terms of the agreement are that if voters approve the tax hike, half of what the city receives would go to maintain Memorial Field and the Port Townsend Community Center for four years.
The county’s share of the total revenue would be 60 percent, while 40 percent would go to the city of Port Townsend.
So, the total revenue projected from a sales tax hike in its first year would be about $633,333, with some $253,333 going to Port Townsend.
Said Morley: “We recognize that we are at the bottom of a budget cycle right now and recovery could be flat.
“But as we recover, it will be important to put away funds to help us deal with the next low period.”
After a period of affluence, the county budget has been under fire for the last two years, which has resulted in a cultural change.
“When I was first elected I rather naÃØvely thought that a budget was a budget,” said Superior Court Clerk Ruth Gordon.
“Then I noticed that anyone who came in and asked for money got whatever they asked for, and I wondered if it was a competition to get money out of the general fund while there was still some money left.
“Then I wondered, am I a doofus for putting money back into the general fund every year?”
Morley commended Gordon, and other departments, for becoming more budget conscious since he took over as county administrator in 2008.
“We are now living within our budget,” he said.
“We have shifted our culture as an organization, and living above our means is no longer acceptable.”
Department of Community Development Director Al Scalf cautioned about asking for further cuts to his department, saying that it would lengthen the already long average of 79 days needed to get a permit.
Scalf said he has seen an increase in permit applications, which is an indication of economic recovery.
“We’re the canary in the cave, we’re up front in the change curve,” he said.
“We are starting to get revenue and taking money to provide a service, so we should give the people that service.”
Amid all the talk of numbers and graphs, Gordon commented on the human costs.
“I want a balanced budget as much as anybody on earth, but we have to stop what we are doing,” Gordon said.
“I’m working until 10 to take care of what needs to be done in the office and I can’t keep doing this.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
