YAKIMA, Wash. -- In what could be its biggest layoff in history, Yakima County may have to cut as many as 60 positions next year as county commissioners work to close a $3.3 million budget gap created by falling revenues and higher operating costs.

Commissioners will adopt a preliminary budget Tuesday that sets spending for 2010 at more than $54 million.

Revenues are projected to be only $51.3 million.

Commissioner Mike Leita said that since nearly all vacant positions have already been eliminated, budget cuts mean people will lose their jobs.

"We are talking live bodies here," Leita said Friday.

Estimates of the personnel cuts range from 45 to 60 positions.

The county currently has about 1,100 employees, making it the third-largest employer in Yakima County behind Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital and Walmart at its three county stores and distribution center, according to figures maintained by the Yakima County Development Association, also known as New Vision.

Between now and when a final budget is adopted, commissioners will need to work with elected officials and department heads to close the gap.

One idea taken off the table for 2010 is closing the courthouse one day per week. Even though it would save $900,000, Leita said commissioners decided to postpone any reduction in hours until 2011.

Labor negotiations with unions representing county employees are scheduled next year when the topic of hours reductions will be raised.

In next year's budget, Leita said some cuts will have to come from the law enforcement and the court system, which make up 80 percent of county spending for day-to-day operations.

Those departments include the sheriff, courts, prosecutor, assigned counsel and juvenile.

Budget director Craig Warner said the county has been able to limit layoffs in prior years because of staff turnover. But with a slow economy and fewer employees leaving for jobs elsewhere, turnover has been low.

The county last year eliminated about 35 positions, many of them vacant, to balance the 2009 budget.

Leita indicated the county will take a tough bargaining stance with unions in an attempt to keep labor costs in line with revenues.

He also said the county is negotiating with a unnamed group to assume ownership of Eschbach Park, a 50-acre park northwest of Yakima on South Naches Road.

Transferring the park will save the county $50,000 in general fund spending next year. Total operating costs are about $80,000, but the county has been using park reserves to cover operating costs.

One of the county's major budget headaches is declining revenue, driven by a decline in property tax revenues, sales tax revenue and investment interest -- all of which are tied to the recession. County income has dropped by about $1.1 million since 2008.

Operating costs, most of which involves paying salaries, have grown by $1.1 million. Commissioners allocated $1.1 million from county reserves last year to balance the 2009 budget. But reserves will not be tapped next year.

The county's general fund reserve is about $5.4 million, and under a policy commissioners adopted, any new money taken from reserves must be paid back from general fund revenues. With revenues already dropping, commissioners have opted to leave the reserve box locked up.

* David Lester can be reached at 509-577-7674 or dlester@yakimaherald.com.