Board OKs county employee layoffs

SANDPOINT — Commissioners are contemplating laying off Bonner County employees because of declining revenues and escalating costs.

The board adopted a resolution earlier this month authorizing reductions in force to avoid the declaration of a financial emergency.

“It’s a very difficult thing,” said Commissioner Cornel Rasor, explaining that he knows the strain and uncertainty that comes from being laid off firsthand. “It is simply not a fun thing to have to contemplate.”

Idaho law requires counties to strike a balance between its revenues and expenditures, and to remain solvent in its fiscal affairs.

It’s unclear how many jobs could be affected since the county is still working to finalize its spending plan for the coming fiscal year, which starts on Sept. 1.

Rasor said the board is looking to the county’s department heads for recommendations on which positions to cut.

“The decisions will be based on department head decisions. We’re not going to pick and choose. They know their departments much better than we do,” he said.

As of Monday, only one data-processing position had cut, according to Pamela Allen, the county’s personnel director.

Sales tax revenue collected by the state and distributed to the county is down, said county Clerk Marie Scott. Meanwhile, costs for medical and liability insurance premiums, utilities and other expenditures have risen.

Taxpayer delinquencies have climbed from 6 percent to 7.4 percent, Scott said late last week.

“People are losing their homes. It’s tough out there,” she said.

Continued funding through the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, which serves as traditional assistance to counties affected by the decline in revenue from timber harvest on federal lands, is also in doubt.

“All the fee-driven portions of the budget are way down,” Rasor added.

The board also worked to avoid turning to Bonner County landowners to cover the various shortfalls.

“My original request to the other members of the board and Marie was to take no tax hit — none, zero, zip, nada — and we came very close,” Rasor said.

Scott said the commission could have taken the full 3-percent tax increase allowed by law, which would have amounted to nearly $1.3 million. Instead, the board plans to take about $592,000.

The county’s budget will be the subject of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. public hearings on Monday, Aug. 30, at the Bonner County Administration Building.