County to act on $933,000 in budget cuts at July 1 meeting

By Stan Matthews
County Communications Program Manager

The San Juan County Council was set for a long and perhaps contentious public hearing on the proposed $933,121 in cuts to the County’s 2009 budget for the remainder of the year, but only three people spoke during the June 17 hearing, including County Prosecutor Randy Gaylord.

At the Conclusion of the testimony, the Council set July 1 as the date to conclude the hearing and act on a budget cutting ordinance. It also authorized the County Administrator to send lay-off notices to five employees whose positions would be eliminated under the reduced budget.

The proposal calls for Health and Community Services department to lose two people, Community Development and Planning would lose an additional employee on top of the five it has already laid off this year, the Sheriff’s department is scheduled to lose a half-time dispatcher, and the prosecutor is losing a part-time attorney.

An additional layoff in the Council’s office was postponed until a decision is made on the replacement of the soon-to-depart Council clerk. Additionally, all or portions of positions that have become vacant in the Assessor’s office, Sheriff’s office, Facilities maintenance and Treasurer’s office are set to be eliminated.

Detailed information on the proposed budget reductions, including non-personnel cuts, is available online at: https://sanjuanco.com/budget2009/BudgetReductionInfo.aspx)

The reductions now being considered, billed as “Phase One,” fall nearly $67,000 short of the projected $1 million to $1.5 million gap between the County’s expenditures and its falling sales tax, permitting and other revenues.

Administrator Pete Rose explained that while non-union employees in his department will take uncompensated time off to reduce personnel costs, reductions in hours or furloughs involving personnel represented by labor unions must be negotiated with the unions before the actions are taken. Those cuts, along with others, are expected to be in “Phase Two” which would likely take force in September, after the County receives updated revenue projections.

In public testimony Tuesday Charles Anderson, Chair of the San Juan Island Community Foundation, told the Council that the Foundation’s “Critical Needs Task Force” is looking to fund programs that provide critical social services on San Juan Island in partnership with the County. Anderson said that he feels the “phase one” cuts can be dealt with.

However, “I am extremely worried about phase two,” he said. “I think you will be faced essentially with cutting partners in these programs and essentially we’ll cut the knees off the Critical Needs Task Force and Community Foundation funding because we won’t have anyone to give the money to for the provision of those services.

He concluded by urging the Council to be careful about dismantling the infrastructure that provides essential services.

Oscar Schmaalders of Lopez Island encouraged the Council to consider reducing expenses by having the government go to a four-day work week, and he asked for assurances that the Senior Center on Lopez would still have a full-time director and provide most of the services it now provides. 

Health and Community Services Director John Manning – whose operating budget has been reduced to nearly 20% below last years’ level – said that one support position is being eliminated in senior services on Lopez Island, but no other major reductions are included in the phase one cuts.

Prosecutor Randy Gaylord appeared before the Council to make a pitch to save $1,050 that was in his budget for his staff travel to a training program that is provided without additional cost by the state. He noted that in addition to laying off a part time attorney, he had reduced expenses by finding grant money to keep the department’s victim’s services program operating without cost to the County.

In response, Auditor Milene Henley told the Council that neither she nor the County Administrator think reducing staff training is a good long-term strategy but, “I think for the next six months, the prosecutor’s staff, like everyone else’s staff . . . can live without the training.”

The Council’s budget subcommittee and the County Administrator will continue working on the next round of 2009 cuts – estimated at $300,000 to $500,000 – with an eye to meeting the Council’s requirement that the county budget for 2010 leave an end of the year operating cash balance equal to 10% of general revenues. Without additional cuts or additional revenue, the Auditor has estimated that the County would have to resort to short-term borrowing to maintain cash flow within two years.