PORT ANGELES — All Clallam County employees would take 12 unpaid furlough days in 2010 and the public possibly would find courthouse doors locked one day each month in a budget recommended by County Administrator Jim Jones.
The measure, which must be negotiated with unions, is to help cut a $3.2 million projected budget deficit down to size, Jones said during the first of three public meetings on his recommended 2010 budget in Port Angeles.
By clamping down on expenses, Jones lowered next year’s projected deficit in the general fund to $1.86 million. The net loss would be covered by Clallam County’s $11.5 million rainy day reserve fund.
Since 76 percent of the expenses in the county’s general fund are salaries and benefits, the recommended budget requires all staff to take unpaid days.
The furloughs would save the county $1.35 million and likely take the form of a one-day closure at county offices once a month.
The furloughs must first be negotiated with the six unions that have contracts with county employees.
The alternative is layoffs.
“The only thing we don’t have to negotiate is layoffs,” Jones said.
“All we can really impose in a budget manner is layoffs that add up to the dollar amount that these 12 furlough days represent in each department.”
On a brighter note, Jones predicted that Clallam County will emerge from the economic recession faster than the rest of the nation.
He said the Elwha River dam removal project should begin to create jobs and bolster commerce on the North Olympic Peninsula in late 2010.
“The expectation is that by the second half of the year, and certainly by the fourth quarter of the year, we expect that [revenue] to start getting better,” Jones said.
“The primary driver in Clallam County is going to be the ramping up of the dam removals on the Elwha River.”
The National Park Service plans to bring down the 108-foot Elwha Dam and the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam, which were built without fish ladders, beginning in 2011.
“They’re going to hire local people,” Jones said. “They’re going to be buying materials and equipment, and we’ll get some sales tax revenue out of that.
“We’ll have people going to work. They’ll buy clothes at Swains, food in our grocery stores and eat in our restaurants.
“All of that is just going to magnify as the dam removal projects ramp up, get going and continue for the next two or three years.”
Jones made his budget presentation at Forks City Hall on Wednesday. The three-city tour, which includes an update from transportation officials on road and trail projects, ends today at Sequim’s Carrie Blake Park at 6 p.m.
In the early stages of a multi-tiered charter-mandated budget process, Jones presented his preliminary budget in a public hearing on Sept. 8. The projected $3.2 million deficit assumed this year’s level of service in 2010.
Along with budget director Kay Stevens, Jones met with top officials in each department to talk about their needs and to find ways to lower costs.
Jones is determined to produce a budget that uses no more than $2 million in reserves. His recommended budget does not include additional requests like new staff, new equipment, software or vehicles.
“Those things are not in this budget,” Jones said. “They come at the next stage, where all the department heads individually meet with commissioners in open session and discuss their asks and discuss the things they don’t like about the recommended budget.”
After those public hearings, Jones and Stevens will put together a final budget, which is due on Dec. 1.
Commissioners Mike Doherty, Steve Tharinger and Mike Chapman will adopt the final budget after two more public hearings on Dec. 1.
Jones’ recommended budget includes a summary, pie charts, 10-year trends and a spreadsheet analysis showing costs and revenues of each of the county’s 101 funds.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.