Monroe County Council imposes hiring freeze to offset budget shortfall

The Monroe County Council Web site’s main page has links directing people to open jobs within the county system.  

But there is now a brightly highlighted notice, informing interested applicants that “all open positions currently being advertised are on hold until further notice.”

On Tuesday, the Monroe County Council imposed a hiring freeze on nine council positions indefinitely. The purpose of the hiring freeze is to help compensate for the $2 million shortfall for this year’s council budget.

Vic Kelson, president of the Monroe County Council, said if there is another way to get these jobs done, it would help the county financially.

“County council is facing a shortfall of revenue this year – around 2 million,” Kelson said. “If we’re going to rein all of that in this year, we all need to be prudent.”

County Director of Human Resources Rhonda Foster said alternative ways to get the jobs done include cutting down the work week to four days or implementing pay cuts.

The Monroe County Council appropriates all funds for county use and is responsible for adopting a suitable budget, according to the county council’s Web site.

The budget adopted by the county council is used for all county employees, supplies, equipment and contractual services, said Geoff McKim, an at-large member of the Monroe County Council.

The $2 million deficit is due in part to a state property tax cap. Before the tax cap, the state brought in more revenue.

But general public school funds adopted by the state have had a large impact on Monroe County, Kelson said.

“The county would collect interest on various investment vehicles for schools for several months,” said Kelson. “We don’t get the interest anymore.”

The absence of the school funds has had a significant impact on the county budget, McKim said.

“In 2007, we had $3 million in interest income,” McKim said. “This year we’ll be lucky if we clear $700,000.”

In March, Kelson named McKim as one of the three members of a working group to begin looking at revenue projections for the 2009 fiscal year. To tackle the budget problem, the three looked at past budgets and how county councils have dealt with budget cuts.

Last Tuesday, the council chose nine vacant positions to freeze as opposed to having to fire anyone, Foster said.

The positions included six full-time and three hourly positions, and the freeze will affect departments including the auditor’s office, the probation department and the sheriff’s department.

But the freeze is only a temporary fix while the county council works to get ahead of its financial problem, McKim said.

The freeze is projected to save the county about $189,000 this year, Foster said.

To find out how to get the rest of the money, the county departments have divided up into two teams: departments related to criminal justice and everyone else, McKim said.

“The departments meet to come up with ways to cut budgets within their departments,” McKim said. “How it cuts will be dependent on what the departments are able to come up with.”

If a department believes a position that was frozen needs to be filled, they are required to submit a written request to Foster, after which the county will deliberate the department’s argument, Foster said.

Department heads have until Monday to submit requests, and they have already started coming in, Foster said.

“I already have four, and they have until Monday,” Foster said, “so I assume I’ll have several more soon.”