The warnings of a freeze started with Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones. He said he is not talking about denying additional staff people put in their budget submissions for 2023, or filling vacancies, “just that ordinary across-the-board hiring additional people, the commissioners need to talk about a freeze on that.”
“We’ll see where we’re headed here in the next few months, you’ve been through it before,” he told the sheriff. “The good part is we’ve positioned ourselves in the county and the financial shape we’re in, we don’t have to go through what we did before, we’re not talking about massive layoffs, we’re not talking about any layoffs, let’s just pull back and look at what’s there and see how we move forward.”
Dixon said it is his “wish list” and if it turns out the economy doesn’t tank and revenues remain strong they can cancel the potential hiring moratorium, if his fellow commissioners agree to a freeze.
“I support that, for all the other offices,” Jones replied. “We’ve never recovered from the last layoffs. The only people we hire is to replace,, and we can’t find people.”
The sheriff’s budget consumes the bulk of the general fund — the department is asking for $45.7 million from the general fund and $52.8 million total including non-general fund expenses for next year — and he said he will always work with the commissioners when financial times are treacherous, “but we’re talking about safety.”
After the coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020 the commissioners, expecting a possible $20 million general fund shortfall, ordered everyone to slash 4.14% out their budgets for that year. Jones cut $1.5 million by not replacing 15 to 20 people who left, and he took other steps to meet needed cuts.
Dixon recalled the painful position the county was in during the Great Recession, when that and years of free-wheeling spending nearly catapulted the county off the fiscal cliff. The commissioners had to slash millions — by ordering mass layoffs — from their budget or contemplate raising taxes.
Twice, sometimes three times a year, pay hikes and increases in the double-digit range were normal back then. In 2009 Dixon and now-Supreme Court Justice Sharon Kennedy, who was the domestic relations judge then, convened a summit of office holders, department heads and business leaders, to deal with what was dubbed a “perfect storm.” Jones had to lay off more than 20 deputies.
“I will give you my word, we always work with you guys, we sit down and we figure it out,” Jones said. “We’ve never not, even during the layoffs, as much as I hated to I came in and laid my head on the table.”
The county’s total payroll in 2008 was $136.6 million for 2,596 full-time workers, by 2010 the paychecks totaled $126 million for 2,289 employees. As of Jan. 7 the auditor’s office told the Journal-News there were 1,907 full-time county employees but payroll information wasn’t available.
The county’s finances are in excellent shape right now, starting this year with general fund balance of $75.4 million and projecting $119.4 million to start next year in the 2023 tax budget the commissioners passed this summer. In that document, County Administrator Judi Boyko also budgeted $5 million for capital improvements and a $16 million rainy day fund. All general fund debt was erased in 2020.
Aside from the general fund, there are a number of departments and independent boards that operate on their own tax levies or are enterprise operations like the Water & Sewer Department that gets fees for its services. The total tax budget for all funds is $345.3 million.
The finances are subject to the very volatile economy, so Commissioner T.C. Rogers told the Journal-News he agrees with Dixon’s idea about a potential hiring freeze, “we’ve got the money for our operations we just want to cover ourselves if there is a significant downturn.”
But he said it is more than that for him.
“What I’m starting to conceptualize is how big should our county government be,” Rogers said. “Is there a size where once you go over that it’s just not as efficient?”
Commissioner Cindy Carpenter told the Journal-News there are a number of departments that are still lacking staff from the Great Recession layoffs, so they need to address those needs before unilaterally freezing hiring.
“It’s important that we reset the number of employees that we had before the Recession, that hasn’t been done in several cases,” she said. “It’s absolutely imperative that we’re at the right staffing levels before we ask office holders to put in place a hiring freeze.”
The sheriff has around 400 employees, but that number is always a moving target, he is fully staffed at 408. He did not request additional personnel for next year but a few of the 10 officials who met with the commissioners this week did.
Clerk of Courts Mary Swain already added three employees when she recently re-opened a title office in the northern part of the county in Monroe. Those seeking to beef up their staff to meet growing needs include: prosecutor (4); Probate Court (3), Developmental Disabilities (1) and Vet Board (1).
Dixon told the Journal-News the staffing requests will likely be approved, he just wants to be proactive and forewarn people. He said on Jan. 1 he wants to know for sure the staff count, he doesn’t want people to just keep adding staff next year that may not be sustainable.
“I think the main purpose was just to let all the office holders know look this is not a real rosy picture here as far as what the economy appears to be and what the experts say,” Dixon said. “But it may be okay... I don’t want to have to come to them and all of a sudden say look we’ve got to freeze everything right now and we’ve got to cut.”
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