Local
Memo warns of program, job cuts
By: Kathleen Miller
Examiner Staff Writer
December 19, 2008
Deep cuts to programs, services and jobs loom in Montgomery County, after the county’s chief administrative officer directed department heads to slice as much as 7 percent from next year’s budget in a memo Thursday.
Department leaders were instructed to reduce or eliminate some entire programs, rather than “across-the-board weakening of all programs,” and abolish jobs entirely rather than keeping positions empty. The memo asks directors of the county’s public safety and health and human services departments to cut next year’s budget by 3.5 percent and all other department heads to slice 7 percent.
“The level of reductions required will result in positions being abolished including filled positions,” Chief Administrative Officer Tim Firestine wrote in the memo.
Firestine told The Examiner the county would attempt to shift displaced workers into vacant positions rather than “putting anybody out on the street.”
The directive comes on the heels of $30 million in recent cuts to current spending levels, approved by county council members last month.
Eric Friedman, director of Montgomery County’s Office of Consumer Protection, said all agencies, including his, will struggle to maintain service while making the necessary reductions.
“We believe during this economic crisis it’s going to be even more important to have a regulatory agency that can keep scams in check like we do since unscrupulous activity is usually heightened when the economy is tight,” Friedman said. “I think it will be difficult to accomplish the cuts without some combination of eliminating positions, so we’re looking for guidance in how we’ll do that.”
Meanwhile, Leggett announced an “economic stimulus package” Thursday that allows businesses to defer payment of county permitting fees and impact taxes for up to a year, gives residential and commercial builders more time to use construction permits, and doubles the amount of money the county will spend on local goods and services.
“It’s not a panacea for the national crisis in the economy but it is something we can do in Montgomery County,” Leggett said, adding that the plan could delay receipt of about $45 million in taxes and fees.
Department leaders were instructed to reduce or eliminate some entire programs, rather than “across-the-board weakening of all programs,” and abolish jobs entirely rather than keeping positions empty. The memo asks directors of the county’s public safety and health and human services departments to cut next year’s budget by 3.5 percent and all other department heads to slice 7 percent.
“The level of reductions required will result in positions being abolished including filled positions,” Chief Administrative Officer Tim Firestine wrote in the memo.
Firestine told The Examiner the county would attempt to shift displaced workers into vacant positions rather than “putting anybody out on the street.”
The directive comes on the heels of $30 million in recent cuts to current spending levels, approved by county council members last month.
Eric Friedman, director of Montgomery County’s Office of Consumer Protection, said all agencies, including his, will struggle to maintain service while making the necessary reductions.
“We believe during this economic crisis it’s going to be even more important to have a regulatory agency that can keep scams in check like we do since unscrupulous activity is usually heightened when the economy is tight,” Friedman said. “I think it will be difficult to accomplish the cuts without some combination of eliminating positions, so we’re looking for guidance in how we’ll do that.”
Meanwhile, Leggett announced an “economic stimulus package” Thursday that allows businesses to defer payment of county permitting fees and impact taxes for up to a year, gives residential and commercial builders more time to use construction permits, and doubles the amount of money the county will spend on local goods and services.
“It’s not a panacea for the national crisis in the economy but it is something we can do in Montgomery County,” Leggett said, adding that the plan could delay receipt of about $45 million in taxes and fees.
More from Kathleen Miller
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- Atheists get day in court over effort to ban God from inauguration ceremony
- Leggett wants new Rockville jail, council chief calls too pricey
- Opposing groups probe immigration policies in Md.
- Md.’s River Road reopens after water main break
