Someone dropped off a stack of documents for me that indicated the county was looking at laying off anywhere from seven to 26 employees. For now, seven is closer, and there is one extreme scenario in which no one gets laid off, but everyone pays.
The bottom line cause for this: Fewer permits for construction of single family residences is contributing to a projected shortfall of $1.2 million in permitting. The Department of Community Development is to pay for itself. Without that permit money, it can’t.
The extreme example is a strike, which only anonymous people (anonymous to me) are saying. In theory the union could strike long enough that it would save the county enough money that some of the layoffs would be unnecessary. So far, I don’t see much appetite for that.
What the county has proposed so far isn’t acceptable to union members, but that doesn’t mean they’re opposed to everything. Also on the table is, in addition to laying off at least seven people, reducing the workweek to 36 hours and taking days off without pay before the end of the year. There’s sure to be more about this in the coming days or weeks.
Does it take a PhD to predict that a gagging real-estate market will have consequences? The County and my local COBI Council seem to have been caught flat-footed with the news that has been apparent: economy has stumbled. Why didn’t the CFO for the Councty predict this and begin adjustment 6 months ago?
Hopefully the new candidates for Kitsap Commissioner office are better able to read the tea leaves and to make the adjustments to spending and staffing in real time.
By the way, what is the position of Matthes/Garrido and La Celle/Bauer on this very significant issue?
Hate people loosing their jobs . I just don’t get why we can’t cut some of the slack eleswhere . Many of these boards are just tax payer supllied special interest groups , reflecting political parties more then our neighbors . Cut them first .