July 25, 2002
<bt>Loudoun County has nearly a year to cut $8 million from the fiscal year 2003 budget, a move that will accommodate a drop in the property tax rate from $1.08 to $1.05.
As a temporary answer, the county recently implemented a managed vacancy freeze by filling only those positions deemed as necessary after employees quit, retire or leave the staff.
"It’s one of those unfortunate things we felt we had to do to keep the tax rate down," said Supervisor James "Jim" Burton (I-Mercer.)
County Administrator Kirby Bowers suggested the freeze during budget discussions earlier this year, implementing the freeze as soon as the budget was approved in April. The fiscal year began July 1.
"We are a people-oriented operation. You can’t achieve that amount of savings without looking at personnel," Bowers said.
The $8 million cut is required to come from local expenditures, which for the fiscal year 2003 operating budget total $123 million. The county delayed 100 new positions or enhancements until October with the possibility of delaying them even longer. The county also kept 100 staff positions vacant of the 2,595 full-time equivalent positions authorized by the Board of Supervisors for this year’s budget. The positions are required to remain frozen until permission is filed from the county administrator’s office.
"It’s a case-by-case basis," Bowers said.
THE DECISION on whether to fill a position or not could affect the county’s delivery of services, Bower said. For now, field officers for the Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Fire and Rescue Services are exempt from the freeze, along with staff positions involved with the board’s priorities for the four-year term.
Bowers set an example by leaving vacant a position left open by Barbara Blair, who recently retired from administration management on a salary of $70,000 a year. Her workload was spread among other staff members.
"Every county agency adds up. Little things like that add up in the long run," Bowers said. "We’re encouraging all the department heads to operate in that manner."
Bowers organized five employee task forces in June to study strategies that could achieve savings for the county. The task forces were tasked with developing a strategy for cost containment and savings, analyzing the county’s core services, considering ways to balance an increasing workload with limited resources and identifying ways to provide additional training and recognition for employees while giving employees more authority to take action, thereby increasing their efficiency.
"It’s a real bottom-up process, so we get good suggestions from bottom-line employees and middle management," Bowers said. "It will be difficult for us to manage through fiscal years 2003-04 without engaging the workforce in the process."
The task forces will present their recommendations this week to county administrative staff and department heads for their consideration.
"They are the ones closest to the services being delivered. They are most familiar with where the impacts will be," said John Pumprey, division manager for the Department of Information Technology who helps head up the cost containment task force.
DESPITE A TIGHTER BUDGET, the county plans to open 10 schools and build a new adult detention center, a fire and rescue center and several mental health facilities during 2003-04.
"The bottom line is the county is still growing," Bowers said. The county’s population increased from 86,000 in 1990 to 205,000 this year. The county added more than 30,000 residents since the 2000 U.S. Census showed a population of 169,000.
"What’s happening is we’re beginning to see the real cost of high growth. And you couple that with a slowdown in the economy, this puts us in a crunch time," Bowers said.
A lack of state funding and a tax structure that is not "tapping into the real wealth of the county" also contribute to the problem, Bowers said. The county’s main source of local tax funding comes from property taxes, since the county cannot charge impact fees and receives a limited portion of state income taxes filed by county residents.
At the same time, the residents are expecting more services from the county.
"There are a lot of things local communities can do for themselves," Burton said, adding that the typical newcomer arrives with a suburban view, different than that of the more self-reliant older communities willing to build their own fire stations and volunteer more. "They turn to the county government to pick up those things. It’s been a difficult load. We’re adjusting to each other," he said.
Burton said the county continues to hire staff. "There are still jobs available but there’s not as many as there had been," he said.