106 jobs may be cut in county

A majority of Luzerne County Council agreed in a straw vote Thursday to support a 2012 budget amendment with no tax hike.

The $118.7 million spending plan will require an estimated 106 layoffs and contains no temporary fixes, such as the use of capital funding to repay debt.

Council members have been debating options for weeks but had to reach consensus so Interim Manager Tom Pribula has time to plug figures into thousands of categories that make up the county budget.

The council plans to unveil the amended budget on Feb. 2, hold a public hearing on Feb. 9 and officially adopt the spending plan on Feb. 14.

Pribula said the scenario will require an estimated 129 layoffs, but 23 people have already been cut this year through retirements, terminations and the elimination of several elected posts under the new home rule government.

He will quickly present each manager with their overall dollar allocations and allow them to tailor their department budgets within those amounts.

Though they may have preferred other options, the following council members ultimately agreed to support the no-tax-hike budget: Edward Brominski, Harry Haas, Rick Williams, Elaine Maddon Curry, Stephen A. Urban and Stephen J. Urban.

Council members Jim Bobeck, Tim McGinley, Linda McClosky Houck and Eugene Kelleher were willing to support a 2 percent hike while using capital funding to help pay debt, which would have required 56 layoffs.

McClosky Houck and Kelleher had to leave the meeting before the straw vote, but Bobeck believes they will all consider the no-tax-hike budget because reverting back to the commissioner-approved budget is the only other remaining alternative.

Pribula said the budget inherited from commissioners contains exaggerated revenue, requires 119 layoffs and would likely lead to litigation from court branches, the district attorney and public defender.

“This budget is austere but extremely honest,” Bobeck said of the plan that has majority support.

McGinley said he can’t vote for the no-tax option because he believes 106 layoffs will hamper services and may still prompt litigation from the court, district attorney and public defender.

Councilman Rick Morelli was not at the meeting. He said he does not want a tax increase but had hoped for other temporary fixes to reduce layoffs.

However, several alternatives proposed by Morelli, including a cash advance on back-tax liens and a 10-day furlough and increased health care contributions for non-union workers, did not receive majority support from council members in straw votes Thursday.

Pribula said the courts may be willing to accept the budget version accepted by council because it restored some funding.

Court branches spent a total $22.6 million in 2011 and will receive $20.7 million under the new budget, or $1.9 million less. The budget adopted by commissioners reduced spending in court branches to $18.9 million, or a loss of $3.7 million.

Pribula told council he believes Chief Public Defender Al Flora will sue the county “no matter what” because none of the options considered by council would provide the funding he’s requesting.

He noted the public defender is selected by the manager with council confirmation, leaving the option to appoint someone new if there’s a “lack of cooperation.”

Brominski, who had considered raising taxes but returned to his original no-hike stance, said he’s not going to put up with departments “holding a hammer over my head” with litigation threats.

“The DA, courts and public defender – they don’t intimidate me,” Brominski said.

“It is what it is. We’re a strapped county. Frankly, I find it ridiculous that we’re suing ourselves,” Haas said.

Pribula said he believes it will “hurt the process a little bit” as the new government is implemented. He said the last people hired are often furloughed. “A good portion of those people end up being probably the better workers,” he said.

Pribula continued his advisement to get off the “high” of one-time fixes but was unable to convince enough members to raise taxes.

He bannered his sheet of budget options with Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Maddon Curry said she couldn’t ask property owners to pay more until council members have demonstrated the county has its “house in order.”

She repeatedly urged fellow council members to add $1.4 million in capital funding borrowed with interest to the budget to soften the blow of no tax hike but couldn’t sell the idea.

“I know you’re not for one-time fixes, but this one is not disturbing to anybody,” Maddon Curry said.

Williams said he supports unions but was disappointed with their unwillingness to consider a freeze on pay raises or a 12-day furlough.

“In lieu of that we have to adopt a serious austerity concept, and that’s what we’re about to do, and hopefully we’ll pull through this and come out of it leaner, stronger, more efficient and will begin a culture of excellence and best practices and customer service,” Williams said.