PORT TOWNSEND — With little discussion Monday, Jefferson County commissioners unanimously approved a $48 million 2009 budget that eliminates 13 jobs — six of them layoffs — to help offset revenues lost in a soured economy.
“This does bring expenditures and revenues more in balance with each other,” said County Administrator Philip Morley, who started with the county in late October and was thrown cold into a budget bereft of sale and real estate excise tax and permit revenues.
The commissioners also adopted 3 percent raises for salaried exempt management and professional county staff and for elected department heads.
“It is extremely important to have a salary schedule that continues to attract good employees,” said Commissioner John Austin, D-Port Ludlow.
Overall, 53.7 percent of the budget is going to staff salaries and benefits.
Morley said the budget “was not done through the dictates of this office, but was the result of collaboration with county department heads and staff.”
Community Development
Actual county layoffs were limited to the Department of Community Development, where six positions were recently eliminated because building permits and the fees that accompany them plummeted.
That department’s remaining staffers were cut to 36-hour work weeks, including Al Scalf, community development director.
The department’s hour reductions amount to two full-time positions, Morley said.
A 4.3 percent staff reduction was approved with the budget, leaving the county with 297.6 full-time-equivalent positions.
The commissioners a month ago declared a budget emergency in a 2-1 vote, with Commissioner David Sullivan opposed.
The commissioners authorized a hiring freeze and voted to use the county’s banked capacity (delayed tax provision) for the general fund — a slight tax increase — leaving unused banked capacity for the road fund and conservation futures tax levy.
That infused $473,171 in additional revenue.
A total of $561,000 has been cut from the budget.
Tax decline
The county administrator reported a county real estate excise tax decline of about 50 percent since 2006 — from $1.4 million to $650,000, and a 25 percent decrease in building and development review fees, about $300,000.
Morley said for 2009 the banked capacity will amount to about $25.02 a year tax increase for the average home.
He explained that every year the commissioners have chosen not to take banked capacity has meant a $700,000-a-year savings to taxpayers.
Banked capacity can be re-created once the economy recovers, he said.
Beginning in 1986, the Legislature allowed local governments to levy less than the maximum increase in property taxes allowed under law without losing the ability to levy higher taxes later, if necessary.
This provision encouraged taxing districts to levy only what they needed rather than the maximum allowable.
Prior to that, taxing districts that took less than the maximum, at that point 6 percent annually, permanently lost some of their levying capacity. Therefore, districts tended to use it or lose it.
The banked capacity concept allows districts to be more fiscally conservative without being penalized.
Budget cuts
Cuts to make budget are:
•âÇThe Assessor’s Office has agreed to postpone vehicle replacement for a year.
•âÇThe Auditor’s Office agreed to reduce a staff quarter full-time equivalent position and reduce printing costs by $25,000.
•âÇDistrict Court has reduced salaries and benefits by $25,000 by reclassifying department positions.
•âÇJuvenile Services reduced a half full-time probation counselor position, saving $35,000, which will be reviewed at mid-year.
•âÇThe Prosecuting Attorney’s Office reduced one full-time office manager position, which remains unfilled, saving $52,000.
•âÇThe Sheriff’s Office reduced a deputy position, saving $92,000, and reduced professional services by $70,000.
The sheriff budgeted overtime of $225,000 in salaries and benefits, which previously had not been done.
•âÇOther reductions amount to $229,000 for the Department of Community Development, $151,000 for Public Health, facilities reductions amounting to $55,000, WSU Cooperative Extension reductions of $24,000 and Parks and Recreation cuts of $4,350.
•âÇWSU Cooperative Extension reduced 1¬½ full-time positions in staffing and other professional services, and Public Health reduced 2¬½ full-time-equivalent positions.
Facilities management reduced one full-time employee, eliminating its manager position, but JeffComm 9-1-1 added two full-time employees.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
