EVERETT — Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon’s proposed 2011 budget avoids new taxes, but includes nearly 20 layoffs — half of them potentially from law enforcement.

About 150 vacant jobs are being eliminated throughout the county as well.

Reardon has promised to keep human services funding near this year’s levels. No county workers are being asked to take unpaid days off, as many have for the past two years.

“It’s time for government to accept that the game has changed,” Reardon told a packed room of county employees Thursday morning. “Our job now is not to look back at how things were done in the past, but to continue to charting a path forward that provides for the needs of our people in a sustainable way.”

Sheriff John Lovick said he has notified 10 patrol deputies that they might lose their jobs. Though some of the deputy jobs ultimately may be spared, Lovick said that two child-interview specialists at Dawson Place Child Advocacy Center are being laid off. Another 27 vacant jobs at the sheriff’s office could go away as well.

“We’re going to continue to provide the service that we have provided before; it’s just going to be a little more difficult,” Lovick said.

Late in the day, Reardon spokesman Christopher Schwarzen wrote an e-mail to clarify that each of the county’s elected officials determined their own budget for next year, so it was Lovick’s decision to cut positions, not the executive’s.

Reardon’s proposed 2011 operating budget is $201.8 million. That’s slightly larger than the county’s 2010 budget after cuts this spring to adjust to falling revenues and depleted cash reserves.

The impact this year has been lessened somewhat by steady cuts since the spring of 2008, when the economy started to sour.

Next year’s proposed budget would eliminate about 170 jobs, most of them currently vacant. That would leave the county with about 2,650 budgeted jobs at the beginning of next year.

Not counting the state of Washington, the county is the second-largest public employer in the county, behind Naval Station Everett. Among all other employers in the county, it trails only the Boeing Co., Providence Regional Medical Center, Premera Blue Cross and Tulalip Tribes Enterprises.

As has been the case for years, about three-quarters of the county’s general fund goes toward police, prosecutors and the jail, as well as other aspects of the criminal-justice system.

Prosecuting Attorney Mark Roe’s budget for next year would lose 20 positions. Most of those are positions that have been kept vacant during the past two years in anticipation of keeping costs down. He has laid off one employee.

“I’m not whining or complaining about it because it’s the exact same thing that everybody else is dealing with in their houses and their homes,” Roe said. “Our level of service is a direct reflection of how the economy’s going, because we’re funded by your tax dollars.”

Superior Court has lost 16 vacant positions, laying off two more and losing another through retirement, presiding Judge Ellen Fair said.

The Clerk’s Office is losing eight vacant jobs and laying off one person, Clerk Sonya Kraski said. That brings her office down to 1995 staffing levels. Their workload has increased by 40 percent since that time and they now handle 2,000 to 2,500 documents per day.

“I’m just very proud of my staff,” Kraski said. “They don’t have as many co-workers as they used to. But they’re getting the job done, and that’s due largely to their dedication.”

In his speech, Reardon praised other county leaders for their work on the budget and for ongoing efforts to work more efficiently.

Now that Reardon has submitted his budget, it goes to the County Council for possible revisions.

“From what I can tell, it looks like we got a realistic budget from the executive this year, far more realistic than the ones we got in the past two years,” Gossett said.

Reardon did not sign the budgets the council passed during the past two years “because they were unrealistically full of overspending,” Schwarzen, the executive’s spokesman, wrote in an e-mail after reading Gossett’s comment.

Dwindling cash reserves were a large reason for the mid-year cuts, said Gossett, who wants to avoid repeating them in 2011.

The council has scheduled three evening meetings in October for the public to offer opinions about the budget. Other meetings are being scheduled to allow department leaders a chance to speak with council members.

The council is likely to pass its budget by late November. The executive then has the choice of passing or vetoing it. The process is expected to finish in December.

The general fund, which mainly comes from revenues such as property and sales taxes, is just one part of the budget.

Reardon’s total proposed budget for next year comes in at just under $600 million, about $20 million less than for the 2010 budget. In addition to the general fund, it includes Paine Field, roads and other government functions paid for with dedicated revenues.

The drop owes to a cyclical dip in roadwork, annexations and the loss of some federal and state grants, county finance director Roger Neumaier said. Funding should remain unchanged for human services and Washington State University Extension programs.

Departments’ proposed budgets

Some departmental budgets at Snohomish County in the proposed 2011 budget. Some workers have already lost their jobs.

• The sheriff’s office, 324 budgeted positions, losing 27 vacant jobs, two child-interview specialists and up to 10 patrol deputies.

• The prosecuting attorney’s office, 169 budgeted positions, losing 16 vacant jobs and laying off one employee.

• Superior Court, 205 budgeted positions, losing 16 vacant jobs, two employees through layoffs and another through retirement.

• The Clerk’s Office, 72 employees, losing eight vacant jobs and laying off one employee.

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com.