County approves pared-down budget, 30 staff cuts

Yakima County passed a belt-tightening budget Tuesday with virtually no changes since it was introduced last month.

The county's $53.5 million 2009 general fund budget includes 30 staff cuts and spends $1 million in reserve funds. It was the subject of three public hearings last week. But those turned out to be mostly a formality, as only minor housekeeping changes were made -- none in the general fund, the budget's discretionary component.

"This is kind of the end of a long road," county budget specialist Craig Warner said. "We started this back in the spring."

The plan cuts deepest into the county's planning department, courts, sheriff's office and auditor's office, all of which will have fewer employees in 2009 than in 2008. Much of that can be accomplished by attrition without layoffs, heads of those departments have said.

The staffing cuts, designed to make up the difference between an estimated $52.5 million in revenues and $53.5 million in expenditures, will include layoffs in the courts and one in the auditor's office. The planning department already laid off two employees.

A decision to spend down reserves by $1 million -- taking the county from a 12 percent reserve level to 11 percent -- helped avoid further cuts, Warner and Commissioner Mike Leita have said.

Budgets have been lean for years as the county, like jurisdictions statewide, deals with a 2001 initiative-approved property tax increase cap. Though that initiative was thrown out last year, the state Legislature quickly reinstated the cap.

Last year's county budget included cuts equivalent to 25 full-time staff positions. And County Prosecutor Ron Zirkle, who plans to retire at year's end and whose office didn't have to cut positions in the budget approved Tuesday, already has predicted that his successor will have to make cuts for 2010.

Leita joined him Tuesday in sounding an ominous note about tough times to come.

"The '09 budget was challenging," he said. "But thinking of 2010, already I see greater challenges ahead."

* Pat Muir can be reached at 577-7693 or pmuir@yakimaherald.com.