16 county workers laid off to trim budget

Workers in Whitley County government got some bad news and worse news Tuesday morning.
The bad news is that in an effort to overcome a nearly $400,000 budget shortfall this fiscal year, Whitley County Judge-Executive Burley Foley announced during a special called fiscal court meeting that 15 people were being laid off. The layoffs will be in place by the end of the day Friday. An additional position is being cut by the departure of another employee who won’t be replaced.
The worse news is that the county probably isn’t through making layoffs yet, and more will probably be coming next month.
“For me to tell you that I think that is all there will be would simply be me not speaking the truth,” Foley said. “The cuts will be very deep. It could get down to me, and the treasurer, and a couple of more potentially.
“I’m not saying that is going to happen. I’m going to do everything humanly possible to try and make sure that doesn’t happen, but realistically, it could happen. If that is what it takes, that is what I am going to do. It is not what we need now. It is what we can afford.”
Under the first phase of the county’s restructuring plan, the biggest layoffs will come at the jail, which saw its employee cap fall from 32 full-time positions to 26 full-time positions Tuesday morning following a unanimous fiscal court vote.
The ambulance service is losing two full-time positions, and two part-time positions. Two people will be laid at the road department, and two from the judge-executive’s office. Former 911 Director Lisa Baird, who resigned recently, won’t be replaced in the immediate future, but long-time dispatcher Angie Matney will assume her duties. In addition, one other 911 employee is being laid off.
Foley said that the ambulance response time shouldn’t be affected by the cuts, and that he doesn’t anticipate any major work that can’t be done at the road department due to the layoffs.
He said the only exception would be if there were a major snow or snows.
“The response time in my office is going to be a little slower. It is down to me and the treasurer, and the finance officer now. Certainly we have put a strain on the jail. It is going to be uncomfortable for them to manage the jail with 26 employees. I’m very aware of that, but by the same token I am aware that we don’t have the money to pay them.”
Foley noted that the number of jail employees could go back up if the inmate population increases, and that the county is expected to get 16 state class ‘D’ felons in the near future. The jail can house up to 32 class ‘D’ inmates, which would generate about $332,000 in income for the county.
The fiscal court is also looking to save some money by having some government offices pay the social security benefits for their employees for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends June 30, rather than the money coming out of the fiscal court’s budget.
Whitley County Clerk Tom Rains has agreed to pay the social security and retirement benefits for the employees at his office out of the budget for the clerk’s office, which Foley said should save the county about $17,000 over the next five months.
Rains also presented the county with a partial payment of his excess fees from 2005, which totaled $106,800.
In addition, Sheriff Lawrence Hodge has verbally agreed to pay for the social security, retirement, and health benefits for his employees out of the sheriff’s budget, which should result in about $77,000 worth of savings for the fiscal court, Foley noted.
Foley said his office is in the process of making other cost cutting measures, such as renegotiating contracts for telephone service. The county has already renegotiated its contract for cell phone service.
In addition, Foley said he has implemented a purchase order tracking system where department heads are attempting to negotiate or find the lowest prices possible for purchases, and Foley must all approve the purchase orders.

More coming
Foley said he hopes to be able to make an announcement concerning the second round of cuts by the Feb. 16 regular fiscal court meeting.
He said more layoffs are certainly possible at that time, if not likely.
Between now and then, Foley said he hopes to be able to look at the county’s insurance premiums to see if money can be saved in that area, and that surplus property the fiscal court voted to sell last month will be sold by then. If not, he hopes to have an estimate on how much the property, such as the old jail, and tracts of land near Ky. 92, will bring.
Foley and County Treasurer Jeff Gray have already started planning the budget for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
“We are going to recognize a budget that will match the revenues to the services. There could be additional layoffs, and probably there will be quite frankly,” Foley said. “I’m going to layoff enough people to get it solvent. If that means getting it down to me, that’s what I will do. I don’t anticipate that, but if that is what it takes.”

Why more expenses
Foley said there are various reasons why the budget has such a large deficit.
The closure of the jail and the re-opening of it resulted in a $300,000 deficit in the jail fund. In addition, there is the high cost of just operating a jail.
“It is like a vampire sucking blood out of us up there that is exactly what it is like. Every day it is open, we lose money. Quite frankly that is the biggest draw on the county right now,” Foley said.
Foley said he has asked around the state, and every where he goes people talk about the drain jails are on the county budget.
“There is a fix. Jailer Ken Mobley has done a good job at least where he can get his hands around it,” he added. “For us to get it where it needs to be, we need to get the beds full. We have to get state class ‘D’ felons, who we would get about $30 per day per prisoner to house.”
In addition, the county’s insurance premiums rose from $220,828 during the 2004-2005 fiscal year to $313,566 for a total increase of $92,738.
Foley said insurance companies base the increase on ratings from previous lawsuits.
“Ours was extremely bad, so we are going to pay higher premiums,” he added. “When I came in office as magistrate in 1994, a gallon of gas was a whole lot less than it is now. Our costs have continued to rise, but our revenues haven’t risen to match that cost. It has caught up with us. All we can do is reduce services to match revenues.”

Occupational tax not enough
Foley said revenues from the occupational tax enacted last year aren’t enough to overcome the deficit.
“It is just a drop in the bucket based on our indebtedness. That money right now is allocated to go directly to the jail for its indebtedness. There is just simply not enough money to run the county based on the services we have,” he noted.
For instance, in 1994 when Foley was first elected magistrate, the county had four deputies as opposed to 14 deputies now.
“Our services are a tremendous amount better. Again, I’m glad we have 10 more deputies right now. It makes our streets a lot safer, but we can’t continue to have the services we have based upon the revenue we have,” he added.