Evans suggests closing courthouse noon Fridays

“We need to be talking broad concepts and big bucks.”

With that comment, commissioner John Evans offered his proposal to solve the county’s $550,000 budget shortfall during the board’s regular Aug. 27 meeting.

Saying, “We need to make deep cuts,” Evans offered a plan that asks county departments to evaluate their individual budgets, finding ways to save the following:

-Planning and permits, $150,000

-Sheriff, $100,000

-Health and environmental services, $150,000

-Prosecutor, $50,000

-Assessor, $60,000

-Parks, fairgrounds and miscellaneous, $40,000

Evans said, “The Sheriff has a $2 million budget. I support law and justice, but we must do something. I suspect the health people may be double checking in some areas.”

He also feels the assessor’s on-site physical inspections could be done every six years instead of the current three.

Evans proposes re-negotiating employment contracts with the unions and reducing employee hours. “Maybe the county could shut down at noon on Friday with everyone, including us, taking a pay cut.”

He emphasized that “this is very uncomfortable talking about this with people’s lives and jobs at stake. But it has to be done.”

Commissioner Darcie Nielsen brought up a recent survey of county employees asking for their suggestions. “Clearly, we must eliminate duplication of regular tasks, such as having more than one person in a department going to pick up the mail.”

Nielsen pointed out there are 26 taxing districts in the county and “consolidation of services needs to be examined closely.”

She also asked the board to once again consider hiring a professional manager, to which Evans countered, “Adding another $100,000 (in wages) to the deficit won’t solve our problems.”

Nielsen insisted that daily tasks become more efficient. “It’s easy to mock the fact that we are not administrators. People tell me we need to concentrate on broad policy issues.”

The commissioners agreed to discuss the budget shortfall at future meetings.

The San Juan Board of County Commissioners meets every Tuesday at 9 a.m. in the courthouse.

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