news-record.com

GREENSBORO - Of the positions cut in Guilford County's layoff this week, 10 were active workers and another 25 were vacant positions.

Interim County Manager Brenda Jones-Fox announced the reduction by memo Tuesday. Jones-Fox, who made the decision on those layoffs, did not return several phone messages left Wednesday.

The cuts are another cost-cutting move in a budget year with a tanking economy, declining local sales tax revenue and promises from commissioners to create a budget next year with no property tax rate increase.

The savings connected to the layoff amounts to about $2 million in the county budget, according to Commissioner Billy Yow, which is about $10 on the tax bill for the owner of a $200,000 home.

"This is just cleaning up a lot of what needs to be cleaned up and it's getting rid of a lot of what doesn't need to be there," said Yow, adding that he knew the job cuts were coming and that more could come.

This round of layoffs will take effect by March 10.

Steve Arnold, vice chairman of the Board of Commissioners, said that the county could receive $8 million less in local sales tax revenue than it budgeted this year because of decreased consumer spending.

"I've never seen a real reduction in sales tax revenue," Arnold said, "and it was $2.5 million (lower) in just November."

A smaller-than-expected bond issue this year and offering early retirement to the county's roughly 2,600 employees cut a projected property tax rate increase by about half and removed $12 million from potential budget increases for 2009-10.

As a result of those cuts, the owner of a $200,000 home, who paid nearly $1,500 in county taxes for that home this year, is expected to have a $50 increase on next year's bill.

With the $2 million budget reduction linked to the layoffs, that property tax increase could be lowered to $40 for that same home-owner.

A layoff is decided by the county manager, usually in consultation with department heads.

"I'm sweating it on some of those positions," said Merle Green, the county health director. "We felt that we were basically streamlined anyway."

With 10 cuts, she lost more positions than other departments.

One job was a working nurse, but the others were vacant administrator positions and animal control jobs.

"The nurse was in the infectious-disease clinic," Green said, adding that person treated HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis and other communicable diseases.

"The nurse immunized patients and participated in physical examinations."

Green said that other nurses would pick up that patient load now.

"It was a direct caregiver," she said. "It wasn't an administrator."

Other active positions cut include the county's head of community and economic development and a watershed management engineer from the planning department.

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com