County planning $10M in budget cuts

Among the harder-hit agencies will be the Sheriff's Department, which plans $2.7 million in reductions.

The cuts come after most county departments already reduced their spending by 5 percent from last year's in anticipation of a worsening economy.

The Sheriff's Department won't hold academies for new correctional officers and deputies until late in the spring, meaning no replacements for officers who quit or retire for the remainder of the budget year.

Specialized units like the border crimes unit and school resource officers may be reduced to make sure officers are available to respond to emergencies and investigate crimes, a department spokesperson said.

The county also plans to delay many bond-funded construction projects for several years to avoid having to pay the operating cost for those projects. The county doesn't know which bond projects will be affected, but parks and new buildings tend to add the most to the county's operating budget.

The county is freezing all hiring and suspending purchases of capital equipment and software. Non-essential travel and training also is suspended, and the State of the County luncheon is canceled.

Beyond that, all department heads must review their budgets and cut another 2.5 percent in spending before the end of the calendar year. Development Services, Wastewater Reclamation and Transportation all may have to cut more because of even steeper declines in revenue sources like building permit fees, impact fees, connection fees and gas tax revenue.

County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said these cuts should be enough to get the county through the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends June 30, unless the state transfers more costs to the county to deal with its own budget problems.

County officials remain worried the Legislature will hold a special session in December to address the state budget situation, which could result in further county reductions.

Huckelberry said the latest round of cuts may slow down the response times to citizen complaints and delay processing of documents, but shouldn't have larger effects on public services.

However, the county could be faced with the same cuts the city is making — cutting hours at parks and recreation centers — if another round of cuts is necessary.

"Longer processing time on requests for service will be the biggest impact to the public," Huckelberry said. "So I don't anticipate any facility closures. We're not there yet. Yet. If we see significant state cost shifts, then everything is on the table, including parks closures."

The need for more cuts was identified in a county review of state shared revenue from state shared revenue. The county is down $3 million just for July, August and September. County finance officials have not yet seen results from October, but they fear the decline in revenue could be even greater.

In a memo to department heads Wednesday, Huckelberry wrote: "Due to the economic conditions of the nation and the state, I do not anticipate this trend will reverse. Hence, it is necessary to make further, midyear budget expenditure reductions to ensure the county budget remains balanced at the close of the fiscal year."

Other targeted cuts include the use of cell phones and take-home cars. Also, security services and utility costs will be cut by 5 percent, meaning the air-conditioning or heating won't be turned on for employees who come in on the weekends or after-hours.

County officials don't have a clear idea of what will be cut from each department's budget yet. Department heads must report on their planned cuts by the end of the year, and the Board of Supervisors will discuss the situation in January.

While the Sheriff's Department was exempt for having to make 5 percent cuts during the regular budget cycle, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik agreed to cut $2.7 million as part of the midyear belt-tightening.

"They are taking this very seriously, which we hope carries over to the other elected officials and the courts," Huckelberry said.

Most of the savings in the Sheriff's Department will come from freezing jobs. The department won't lay off any employees. But it loses about two and a half deputies and four and a half corrections officers every two-week pay period out of a staff of 450 deputies and 430 corrections officers.

Sheriff's Capt. Christopher Radtke said the department has canceled academies and won't hold new ones until April for corrections officers and until June for deputies. That means any new officers won't come on duty until the next fiscal year.

The impact is somewhat mitigated, Radtke said, because the department is at nearly full staffing right now. However, he said the department expects overtime costs will increase, and some specialized units may be cut. The department also will assign deputies closer to where they live to cut mileage costs, watch holiday pay, and not do promotions.

He said the department is committed to doing whatever is necessary to keep response times low and have detectives available to investigate crimes.

"We expect to do this by minimizing services in some areas, but any changes to the core service areas should be invisible to the public," he said.

On StarNet: Visit azstarnet. com/metro to find the online version of this story and submit your ideas for what could be cut.