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| County may have to downsize |
| By Sally Voth |
| Published: 04/10/2009 |
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WOODSTOCK -- Downsizing the Shenandoah County budget for fiscal 2010 might mean downsizing the government workforce. The Board of Supervisors is working on an anticipated $99.7 million budget, down from the current year's $101.7 million budget. The board is trying to close a $4.5 million deficit. The panel's budget committee on Tuesday recommended that county administrators look at employee cuts. "This is going to be very unpopular," Supervisors Chairman David Ferguson said before bringing up the staff cuts. Several positions have already been eliminated -- mostly through attrition -- at the landfill, in the building inspections department and in the emergency communications center, he said. "I think we need to continue to look at that," Ferguson said. "We had originally when I sat down with [County Administrator] Vince [Poling] and we went through some scenarios had as many as eight positions we thought maybe we could do. I think there's some other positions that could be eliminated to reduce the number of personnel in the county." District 6 Supervisor Conrad Helsley said cutting staff should be considered. "We even discussed salary reduction," he said. Eliminating another eight or nine workers would probably save the county at most $330,000, Poling said. Ferguson said the first cuts should be made to the constitutional officers' departments -- clerk of the circuit court, treasurer, and commissioner of revenue -- because the state funds employees for those departments and the county pays for additional staff. Revenue from the clerk's office was down about $180,000 this year from last year, budget manager Garland Miller said. "That has to represent a workload [reduction]," Ferguson said. "Right now, I think it would be prudent for us to scale down the size of government. I think the funded positions above those that are allocated by the state ought to be the first ones that we cut. And then, there's a couple more that I think it would be inappropriate for me just to throw out here. "I think at a minimum there's four additional positions that we could cut within the county." District 2 Supervisor Steve Baker asked if furloughs were an option. Poling said those were considered, but it would be complicated because of the state retirement system. Ferguson said he couldn't support furloughs now. "It has to be a permanent solution, and a permanent solution is a staff reduction," he said. Staff cuts aren't all that are being considered to close the budget gap. District 4 Supervisor Sharon Baroncelli was the only one opposed to increasing the personal property tax rate about 10 percent from $2.86 to $3.15, which must go to a public hearing. If the rate remained steady, the county would likely bring in $200,000 less in fiscal 2010 than in fiscal 2009 from vehicles alone, but $600,000 less than would be expected in a normal economic climate. After the meeting, Miller explained that the values of cars have dropped on average 18 percent, versus the typical 6 percent. Helsley spoke of making the rate "revenue neutral." "It's not a tax increase," he said. "We're trying to be revenue neutral." The county has committed to numerous projects, including a new courthouse and a human services building. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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