EVERETT — Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon has announced a tentative agreement with the largest county workers union to help close a $6.7 million budget gap without any layoffs.
The County Council was expected today to review the agreement, along with other cost-saving proposals. The concessions include unpaid days off and a shortened work week for a majority of county employees.
If County Council and union members approve the agreement, the majority of county workers would start taking the days off in April.
“Vital services to our taxpayers will continue to be delivered,” Reardon said Monday during a budget briefing he opened to the public. “Jobs will be protected.”
County councilmen have said they, too, would like to avoid layoffs, although that would be tough to accomplish without an agreement on furloughs.
The new proposals come a week after the executive’s office released figures showing how the national economic downturn has affected Snohomish County. Sales tax projections have come in $4.5 million lower than expected, while money collected from home sales and other revenue sources has slowed.
The county already shed 160 budgeted positions last year to slim down its current budget. The recent revenue forecasts forced the government to start thinking about ways to trim another 3 percent from the county’s $206 million general fund.
Personnel costs make up the bulk of the county’s expenses — about 74 percent, according to Reardon. That means any real savings are certain to affect workers.
Snohomish County has 2,892 budgeted positions, with about 60 percent of them represented by the Washington State Council of County and City Employees, which is affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
If the County Council approves the contract today, the union could start discussing details with its employees, union president Chris Dugovich said. A vote could come late next week.
“Our ball doesn’t start rolling until the County Council approves,” Dugovich said.
There are 235 county employees who are not represented by any union. Reardon’s plan would have any of them who earn more than $17 per hour take 11 unpaid furlough days this year. The days off roughly equal a 4 percent pay cut.
Sheriff’s deputies and corrections officers are in their own unions. No furloughs are planned for them because they serve in 24-hour-a-day operations, but they may need to make other concessions, Reardon said.
Another piece of the cost-saving puzzle is a hiring freeze. Reardon’s staff estimated it could save about $300,000.
Councilman Brian Sullivan said he was surprised Monday morning when his colleagues decided to review Reardon’s version of the hiring freeze, rather than voting on one that he had already proposed.
Both versions would extend the freeze through the end of the year. They would replace a current restriction that allows the county to fill vacant positions already in the 2009 budget.
“I think there’s no question we’re going to pass a hiring-freeze ordinance,” Councilman Dave Gossett said. “We want to make sure we’re doing it right.”
Sullivan’s legislation would provide more council oversight by applying the freeze equally to all departments, regardless of funding source. Managers could make new hires but would have to ask permission from the council.
“This is the same ordinance we passed in 2008,” Sullivan said.
Reardon’s proposal allows some leeway for hiring and applies the freeze only to departments that receive more than 20 percent of their revenues from the general budget. It makes exemptions for positions that are required by law, are necessary for safety or would cost the county more money if they went unfilled.
For example, Reardon said, his version of the hiring freeze would allow the county to hire extra workers quickly for a road project paid for with federal stimulus money.
The council plans to vote on a hiring freeze Monday, Chairman Mike Cooper said.
County leaders on Monday left little doubt that they fear the county’s problems could grow worse.
Cooper and Sullivan both said they feared that the county’s finances might be in a “free fall.”
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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