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County layoffs and cuts loom to trim $5.7 million

By Christian Hill | The Olympian • Published February 28, 2009

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Another wave of layoffs and service cuts will hit Thurston County in about two months as officials try to close a projected $5.7 million budget shortfall.

Chief Administrative Officer Don Krupp estimated that the county will lose about 50 positions in the upcoming round of cuts. The county cut about 80 positions and numerous programs and services to begin the year with a balanced budget.

Krupp and county commissioners met with elected officials Friday to announce the need for additional cuts.

Commissioners are scheduled to adopt an amended budget to reflect the reduced revenue by April 30, with the layoffs and program and service cuts occurring thereafter.

"It's going to be a very difficult couple of months," Krupp said.

On Sunday, the county will enact a previously announced reorganization that will reduce the number of departments led by appointed directors from 16 to eight in an effort to streamline service delivery and reduce costs.

If sales-tax collections remain at their current level, the county will finish 2009 with 22 percent less revenue than it had projected late last year when it drafted this year's budget, Krupp said. The amount of money the state anticipated counties would receive based on changes in how sales-tax revenue is distributed also has not materialized, he added. Residents have cut back on spending because they've lost or worry about losing their jobs and seen the value of their homes and investment portfolios plummet.

Property taxes and sales taxes are the main revenue for the general fund, which pays for basic county services. The general fund pays 77 percent of the cost of the county's criminal justice system.

Sheriff Dan Kimball estimated his department would lose between 10 and 20 correction officers and sheriff's deputies. The department has been asked to reduce expenses by $1.8 million. He said he'd consider asking the unions to accept a wage cut and would reduce his own salary to save jobs.

"There's no way we can cut that much money without laying off people; there's no other way to put it," he said.

Prosecuting Attorney Ed Holm said he'd need to cut five deputy prosecuting attorneys and possibly one or two office staff members to reduce expenses by more than $500,000.

He said those cuts would result in his office no longer charging people for most misdemeanors and reducing the number of drug cases and nonviolent assaults it prosecutes.

"I've thinned the office down so it's below where it was when I walked through the door in 1999," he said. He added: "We don't have spare time here anymore."

Christian Hill covers Lacey and Thurston County for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5427 or chill@theolympian.com.