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County Council mulls tough options at budget hearing

Craig Davison
For The News-Dispatch

LA PORTE - With the 2010 county budget more than $7 million in the hole, county officials during Wednesday's County Council budget hearing put a lot of options on the table, including furloughs and layoffs.

County Council President Mark Yagelski started Tuesday's meeting by reciting numbers: the county spends about $1.1 million every two-week pay period on salary and benefits, for a total of about $28 million a year. He said the general fund has been reduced quite a bit.

He preceded the numbers by saying, "We can only cut so many pens, pencils and erasers out of the budget."

At a special meeting, five council members and Commission President Barbara Huston outlined different options to close the gap. No decisions were made and the options were laid out for discussion.

Councilman Scott Ford said they have to look at the number of employees the county has - more than 800 full and part time. He didn't believe government employees should be treated differently than those in the business field who are reducing workforce.

Yagelski also mentioned many places are instituting furloughs and suggested looking at the number of paid holidays and sick days employees have. There are 14 holidays, and employees receive one sick day per month.

Councilwoman Lois Sosinski said they could look at the option of not filling vacancies when people leave or retire to lower the number of employees through attrition, not layoffs.

Ford raised the idea of closing offices in Michigan City, which has branches of the health department, Treasurer's office and auditor's office. He specified he did not mean closing down the Michigan City Courthouse.

"Can we afford to have dual offices open?" Ford asked.

Councilman Earl Cunningham and others also pushed for a formal hiring freeze.

Yagelski said they could take money out of the operating fund to help with some of the shortfall, but that's like putting a Band-Aid on the problem. He noted the county already has borrowed $10 million from itself to fund operations while not receiving tax draws due to the reassessment.

"Our rainy day fund is zero," he said.

Yagelski noted the 2010 budget is about $2.8 million less than this year.

The next County Council budget hearing is at 5 p.m. Oct. 12 in La Porte County Complex.