Everett, Wash.
Published: Sunday, September 7, 2008

Job cuts shake up county workers

Several county officials are caught off guard by proposed cuts to their staffs.

By Krista J. Kapralos, Herald Writer

 The nearly 100 job cuts Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon proposed Thursday have yet to be approved by the County Council, but some workers already have been told to clear out their desks.

Three people who work for the county's Human Services Department were given pink slips just hours after Reardon unveiled his 2009-10 budget, in which he recommended cutting 95 jobs throughout the county's departments. According to his plan, another 50 vacant positions would be eliminated.

Reardon spokesman Christopher Schwarzen said the three layoffs Thursday were not tied to Reardon's budget. The timing was jarring, though, for some of the county's elected officials who face cutting their own staffs if Reardon's 2009-10 budget is approved.

Several elected leaders said Thursday's public meeting was the first time they'd heard solid numbers from Reardon about the county government's financial situation.

Human Services Director Ken Stark is making changes so his department runs more efficiently, Schwarzen said. More staff cuts are expected in the department in the coming months, and it's not clear how many people will lose their jobs under Stark's plan, Schwarzen added. Two of the people who were let go were asked to leave immediately. The third will be allowed to finish out the year, he said.

Another 23 county human services workers could be asked to leave under Reardon's budget. Stark already has told those people their jobs might be gone by year's end, Schwarzen.

Stark was named interim human services director in June, six months after Reardon dismissed Janelle Sgrignoli, who had worked for the county for two dozen years. Stark was appointed to the position permanently last month.

Other departments hit hard under Reardon's budget include the corrections department, which would cut 13 positions, and the prosecutors office, which would lose 10 positions.

The county's planning department would lose 52 positions, but that number includes several dozen employees who were shifted to comparable public works jobs early this year.

"I am frustrated that if deep cuts needed to be made that we were not consulted on where those cuts could come from," Auditor Carolyn Weikel said. Reardon recommended in his budget that Weikel lay off four people in her office.

Weikel said Reardon's finance team asked her to propose cuts to her own department in general terms, but she was never given financial goals or staff numbers to meet.

The discussion was "very generic, and it was not specific," she said.

Prosecuting Attorney Janice Ellis also said Reardon's staff asked her, in general terms, to recommend cuts in her office, but that she was not invited to interact with the executive's budget team.

"We've come to recognize that information goes into the executive's office, and when the executive is ready to act, he acts through a public statement," she said.

Even if all of Reardon's staff cuts occur, it might not be enough, council Chairman Dave Somers said.

"The revenue forecast in the budget seems rosier than what we'd been told a month or so ago," he said.

In addition, Somers said Reardon failed to make room in his budget for major transportation projects that are necessary to meet requirements of the Growth Management Act.

"We're falling behind," he said.

Weikel and Ellis both said they're not ready to concede that they'll have to make cuts in their departments. In the coming weeks, they and other elected department heads plan to appeal to Somers and the rest of the council to seek other ways to balance the budget.

The council is scheduled to approve the final 2009-10 budget by Nov. 24.

Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA