Many county jobs hang in the balance

Published 10:55 pm Thursday, October 16, 2008

EVERETT — More than 100 county government workers are bracing for official word that their jobs with one of the largest employers in Snohomish County will be gone by January.

County department heads were asked to prepare plans for trimming their budgets by 9 percent. County Council Chairman Dave Somers said Thursday that county leaders should prepare to put those plans in action.

Unless the economy miraculously turns around, county workers and services should brace for the worst blow they’ve been dealt in decades, worried county workers and elected officials were told during a rare budget summit convened by the County Council.

“We are going to be very deliberate, and we’re not going to do anything in haste,” Somers said. He added that the council will “very shortly” direct department heads to prepare county workers for the worst.

County Executive Aaron Reardon, who sat across from Somers on Thursday, later urged caution, compassion and speed in addressing county layoffs.

“We need to inject a significant degree of humanity in this process,” Reardon said, adding that people’s livelihoods are on the line.

County analysts knew early on that revenues would lag next year, but the gap has grown rapidly since Reardon released his budget proposal in early September.

Somers warned early this week that the predicted revenue shortfall could be $21 million. That means county leaders must shave away about 10 percent of spending on jobs and services.

“The departments have come up with their reductions, and I think that gets us pretty close,” Somers said.

Council analysts on Thursday said the shortfall ultimately may approach $29 million, based on the most recent estimates.

That’s triple the amount Reardon’s budget anticipated when he suggested 95 county workers should be laid off to make ends meet.

Somers said Thursday that he hasn’t calculated how many of county government’s roughly 3,000 workers will be without jobs come January, although he expects there will be more than Reardon estimated.

Reardon, Somers and other county leaders debated Thursday over the gravity of the county’s financial troubles.

Reardon and his staff calculate the county’s revenue shortfall at $14 million, tops, but that number may fluctuate, said Christopher Schwarzen, Reardon’s spokesman.

Both sides agreed to meet together in the coming weeks to determine the exact predicted shortfall.

Reardon told the council that they should approve the budget by Nov. 5, nearly three weeks before the legally mandated deadline of Nov. 24. He also said they should proceed calmly so as not to induce panic among county workers.

Reporter Krista Kapralos: 424-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com

Potential cuts

Here are some of the ways county government may try to save money in 2009:

Reduce staffing at the medical examiner’s office, meaning it may be more difficult to handle bodies after business hours.

Switch to 35-hour work weeks for some at the Clerk’s Office

Eliminate the ID Theft Unit at the prosecutor’s office and hire fewer expert witnesses.

Reduce funding for helicopter repair at the sheriff’s office.

End all drug court programs, including at-risk youth and juvenile drug courts.

Euthanize instead of rehabilitate pets seized in animal cruelty investigations.