St. Clair County working on budget cuts that could result in layoffs

The process of looking for staffing cuts has begun at the St. Clair County government building, interim County administrator Debra Moore said.

In November, the St. Clair County Board mandated that the county cut its budget by 10 percent in 2016.

Moore said it’s not yet known how many, if any, employees will be laid off, but that layoffs are a possibility. Many departments hope to achieve budget cuts by not filling open positions, or when workers retire.

“Individual department heads and elected officials were asked to (make) the cuts necessary to reduce salaries by the amount approved by the County Board,” Moore said.

The county’s general fund budget for 2015 is $35.1 million. The county is in the midst of a hiring freeze in an effort to save money.

As of mid-September of this year, the county had employed 955 people, compared with 1,051 employees in 2014 and 1,085 in 2013.

Moore said the process is ongoing as the county prepares to start its 2016 fiscal year on Jan. 1.

“This is the time an employee must be informed of a potential separation because our year is going to end,” Moore said.

Sheriff Rick Watson has said his department would not fill six to eight positions, by not replacing deputies, bailiffs and correctional officers who have retired.

The county highway department plans not to replace three road maintenance workers who have left the department.

Moore pointed to declining revenue and an increase in unfunded mandates from the state, such as an increase in juror pay, the possible costs of registering voters the day of elections at polling places, and a reduction in probation reimbursements from the state.

County Assessor Jennifer Gomric-Minton said she still is working on her spending plan for next year for her 28-person office. She said she is not sure about layoffs, but she plans to not fill a position where an employee is retiring.

St. Clair County Circuit Clerk Kahalah Clay said her office will go with two to three fewer employees, and will avoid needing to lay off any current employees by taking advantage of attrition.

Clay even went ahead and had a meeting with her employees to let them know no layoffs would occur in the department.

“I care about my staff and care about their families,” Clay said.

Jim Jacquot, animal services director, said at a recent meeting the cuts will affect his department.

“It’s going to impact us, we’re going to do what we can do,” Jacquot said.

Jacquot said there would be a cut in part-time personnel salaries, but the majority of cuts is in non-personnel.

“We’re going to have to pay a lot better attention. Hopefully we could make it through,” Jacquot said. “The two serious things is our (medications) for the animals, (and) I’m sure our guys will look a little more tattered. Every year they normally get uniforms… we’ll just have to go through it and see where it goes.”

“Not having done this before, it’s going to have to be a day-by-day thing,” Jacquot added. “We’re going to be cutting back on everything.”

This story was originally published December 9, 2015 at 1:50 PM with the headline "St. Clair County working on budget cuts that could result in layoffs."