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With a reduction of nearly 3 percent and 10 planned layoffs, the atmosphere was grim as Spokane County commissioners passed the 2009 budget on Tuesday.
The budget – which works out to be about just under $440 million for next year – represents a 2.8-percent decrease from 2008, and the layoffs will come from various departments. Open positions will also not be filled, adding another 18.5 jobs to the 28.5 total that are affected by the cuts.
While the layoffs aren’t as severe as some other areas of the state – King County is eliminating 390 jobs in 2009 – Commissioner Mark Richard said he understands the job losses will have a large impact on Spokane County.
“We realize that just because a position is vacant it’s not that it doesn’t affect those departments,” Richard said. “We are going through one of our more difficult budget years in recent times.”
Earlier this year, Spokane County eliminated 19 positions in the Building and Planning Department and another 15 in Engineering and Roads. The total 62.5 jobs are mainly unfilled vacancies, employees who voluntarily reduced their hours, scheduled retirements. The remaining are the 10 who will be laid off.
Six of those cuts will come from the District Court, due to the city of Spokane’s recent announcement that it will create its own municipal court and dissolve its partnership with the county.
Richard said that the county continues to emphasize its public safety needs and the ongoing effort to overhaul the corrections system to come up with options other than “warehousing people in the jail.” Some of those include beefing up the drug and mental health courts and early case-resolution programs.
“As we discuss the construction of a new jail, it is critical that we have already begun programs that will reduce the jail population so we don’t ask taxpayers to pay for a facility that is larger than necessary,” Richard said.
Commissioner Bonnie Mager thanked the heads of the various departments for the helping the commissioners come up with a priority list.
“I do wish we could have kept everything,” she said, adding that the cuts will affect county services in the coming year.
Commissioner Todd Mielke said that it is unrealistic to think that the tough economic climate would or could not affect the county.
“We find ourselves in difficult economic times,” Mielke said. “County residents are going through uneasiness and pulling back. They expect their county to pull back too.”
Mielke added that Spokane County has between 2,100 and 2,200 employees overall and that, percentage wise, the net effect will be small. King County is facing a budget deficit of $90 million, Snohomish County is laying off up to 230 positions and Yakima County is cutting up to 5 percent of its workers.
“Our region seems to be a little better insulated,” Mielke said.
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By
Mike Huffman
