PORT TOWNSEND — Stopping short of saying Jefferson County could be laying off employees in the near or distant future, new County Administrator Philip Morley warned county commissioners on Monday that cutbacks are on the table for 2009 budget consideration.

“It is only out of economic necessity that we are now forced to begin examining program and service cutbacks that may affect both the community and our employees,” Morley wrote in a memo to the commissioners.

“This is not a task we enter by choice, but it is one forced upon us by today’s economic realities.”

Morley on Monday presented a future budget picture, with county expenses escalating at a 4 percent annual pace that would be not be met by the economic growth that has taken place in the past.

“We’re seeing the curtain being pulled open and we’re not seeing it quite clearly,” Morley said.

The situation could lead to budget cuts of 1 percent annually until 2013 and beyond.

Layoffs forecast

County Commissioner David Sullivan, however, put it more bluntly: He expects more county employees out of work.

“That’s what these kinds of cuts mean. It’s going to be staff,” Sullivan, D-Cape George, said during a meeting of the county commissioners on Monday.

“As such, by 2024, depending on banked capacity,” he said, “we would need to cut between $1.7 million to $2.15 million compared to what would be our budget if 2008 programs and services continued unchanged through 2014.”

Morley praised the commissioners, saying, “You banked money during the good times” — about $1.9 million in an excess general fund balance.

He recommended that the commissioners not use those funds.

“These were dollars that could be drawn upon to sustain programs and services during a slow economy,” Morley stated.

He reported that projected expenditures grew 9.8 percent, or $1.4 million, from the original 2008 budget to the 2009 preliminary budget, while revenues were projected to remain stable.

He said third- and fourth-quarter 2008 emergency appropriations requests from the general fund total roughly $758,000, bringing the 2008 total supplemental general fund expenditures to $1.2 million.

Morley said he and budget assistant Ann Sears would continue to work with department heads and elected leaders to reach budget balance.

“We need to act responsibly today so we don’t have to do more painful cuts in the future,” he said.

Sewer design contract

In other action Monday, the commissioners approved the second half of planning the Irondale/Hadlock urban growth area sewer facility preliminary design, awarding the contract to Tetra Tech of Seattle for $1.15 million, a grant from the state Department of Ecology.

The commissioners also set a 5 p.m. Dec. 1 hearing date on the 2008 comprehensive plan amendment docket.

The hearing takes place in the Jefferson County Superior Court courtroom at the courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St., Port Townsend.

Eight proposal are on the docket, including the proposed Iron Mountain mineral resources overlay proposed near Port Ludlow, which residents have protested.

The county Planning Commission has rejected the proposal for a rock quarry but the county Department of Community Development staff has recommended approval with modifications.

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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.