EVERETT — Layoffs in Snohomish County government could top 200, according to a list released Thursday by the County Council.
About 120 people who work throughout county government could be told by the end of the work day that their jobs will be gone in January, and another 22 vacant jobs could also be cut.
Lawyers who prosecute criminals, corrections workers who staff the county jail, clerks who keep the courts running and at least two sheriff’s deputies are at risk.
That’s in addition to about 75 engineers, biologists and other workers in Planning and Development Services who were told last week that their jobs are being cut. About 20 more vacant positions in that department will also be eliminated.
Some county officials say they’ll keep trying to find other ways to save money and avoid layoffs, but the total number of jobs that will be lost this year isn’t likely to change much, County Council Chairman Dave Somers said.
“This will keep changing a little bit right up until we pass (the 2009) budget in November, but it won’t change a huge number,” Somers said.
The County Council told department heads late last week to assume that their budgets will be slashed by at least 9 percent next year, and urged them to begin sharing the bad news with anxious workers.
The hardest hit are the county’s District Courts, which could lose 14 jobs, about 15 percent of the department’s staff, and the clerk’s office, where six layoffs and cuts to five vacant jobs would slice the staff 13 percent.
In the corrections department, 14 people could lose their jobs, and an additional 10 positions could be cut.
The sheriff’s office could be forced to lay off 23 workers. Sheriff John Lovick said two commissioned deputies would be laid off in the best-case scenario for his department.
“It doesn’t look very optimistic on paper, but we’re going to look at services we know we can cut,” he said.
Lovick said he plans to base deputies out of offices nearer their homes to save gas used now on drives to and from work. The search-and-rescue helicopter will stay on the ground except for critical operations.
“We’re just going down line item after line item,” he said. “We’re putting people first, and we’re going to save people if we can.”
Prosecuting Attorney Janice Ellis could lose up to 16 positions in her department, some of which are currently vacant. She has spent hours in recent weeks shifting money around to find the best way to save jobs. Still, she said, it doesn’t look good.
“I have no doubt that we are looking at a reduction in force,” she said.
The County Council is losing one vacant analyst position on its staff, and the coffers for international trade missions next year are officially dry, Somers said. There are usually two trade missions each year. Council members take turns on the trips, and Executive Aaron Reardon usually goes, too. Reardon and Koster visited China on a trade mission last month, while county department heads grappled with the budget crisis.
One person in Reardon’s office is also likely to be laid off, but that person hasn’t yet been identified, said Christopher Schwarzen, Reardon’s spokesman.
The council must approve a final 2009 budget by Nov. 24.
Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.
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