Luzerne County staffed far above average

The size of Luzerne County’s workforce has been a heated topic at commissioner meetings in recent months.

Taxpayers demanded staff cuts to avoid a tax increase this year, bolstered by a suggestion from the county’s financial recovery consultant to eliminate 150 positions.

Commissioners Maryanne Petrilla and Thomas Cooney ended up voting to furlough just 15 workers and to raise taxes 15 percent, arguing that they couldn’t identify further job eliminations.

Pinning down the size of Luzerne County government’s workforce is tricky because the number continuously changes, with workers retiring, terminated or leaving on their own and new people hired.

At this moment, the county has 1,698 full-time employees, according to a recent list of all authorized positions.

It’s a reduction of 41 since The Times Leader analyzed the workforce about two years ago, in December 2007.

But the county still has more employees than most of its similarly-sized counterparts.

In 2007, Luzerne County had a bigger full-time staff than eight of the 10 other third-class counties and more workers per resident than any other – 5.57 per 1,000 population.

Today’s results: Seven other counties have fewer full-timers, with staff sizes ranging from a low of 1,049 in neighboring Lackawanna County to a more comparable 1,651 in Berks.

Compared to population, Luzerne County now has 5.44 full-timers per 1,000 residents – a higher ratio than all other counties except Dauphin, which has 5.97 employees for every 1,000 people.

County Budget/Finance Chief Tom Pribula said the statistics are interesting and he still suspects some positions could be cut, but he wants to do more research before concluding that the county’s staff size is out of whack.

“On the surface it piques my curiosity because we’re obviously near the top,” Pribula said.

Pribula said he had already planned to seek out lists of county staff by department for his own comparison.

“I’d like to see which areas we’re more alike and where we stand out,” he said.

Petrilla, who endured criticism for the recent decision to cut staff at the now-closed Moon Lake Park, said she will continue to study ways to reduce the workforce.

The county eliminated a switchboard operator position, opting to rely on an automated phone system to direct callers. The county also is exploring the possibility of outsourcing security and processing of back taxes, which could lead to more staff reductions.

“We’re trying to trim and do more with less. We’ve made a commitment that we’re going to try to streamline government and operate as lean as we possibly can,” said Petrilla, the board chairwoman.

Petrilla has publicly said that the county’s decision to furlough 72 workers last year hurt some services. She also said consultant Public Financial Management’s option to cut another 150 positions in one year was unrealistic. Cutting 150 positions could save an estimated $6.4 million this year, the consultant said.

Cooney, who replaced former commissioner Greg Skrepenak in December, said he met with all county departments, and most have fewer employees than they did several years ago. He said he will consider any suggestions on reducing expenses.

“Overall, the departments are running with less, which is what the public wants us to accomplish,” Cooney said.

But minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban continues to maintain that there is still room for reductions. He said he heard few complaints about service cuts after last year’s layoffs.

Among his suggestions: switch court tipstaffers to part-time, get rid of a Hazleton solicitor position in the register of wills office and cut at least one position from recorder of deeds due to the office’s decreased workload.