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GREENSBORO — It’s hard to say exactly how government services will be affected by the latest round of Guilford County layoffs.

In the planning department, county commissioners say that requests for service have gone down with the economy.

In the tax department, Director Francis Kinlaw said Monday that his employees would find a way to get their work done.

Those two departments represent nearly two-thirds of the active employees cut in a county layoff that eliminates 40 jobs, 29 of those held by active employees.

Commissioner Linda Shaw said that’s a good thing for the county and shouldn’t hurt services.

After the county’s tax department started an automated payment system, Kinlaw said that the staff that previously handled payments would answer phone calls.

“And I wondered then, 'Why are we keeping these people on?’ ” Shaw said.

Of the nine positions the tax department loses, six are office specialists, two are tax analysts and one is an accounting technician.

“And if we have to have it, I guess when the economy gets better, we’ll add them,” Shaw said.

Other county department heads were unavailable or did not return messages Monday. The latest layoff, which came Friday afternoon, is the most recent effort directed by Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin “Skip” Alston to create a budget with no property tax rate increase for 2009-10.

That initiative so far has included a previous reduction of 35 positions in February and a reduced bond sale to lessen a debt payment and other goals.

Some of the decisions are rooted in meetings between Alston, Vice Chairman Steve Arnold, interim County Manager Brenda Jones Fox and human resources Director Sharisse Fuller.

Shaw said people she’s spoken with say they “don’t give a flip” about how the county conducts its business.

“You don’t hear an outcry from them,” she said, “and I’m not blaming you. We’re not hearing an outcry, we’re hearing praises.”

Alston said that he’s not hearing complaints either.

But other commissioners are criticizing Alston for the way he has operated.

“He’s promised transparency,” Commissioner Billy Yow said.

“And he lied to the public and he lied to you, the media.”

In February, two months after sudden departures of the county manager, deputy manager and two attorneys, some commissioners were upset at learning about actions after they had happened.

Yow met with Alston, and they said they would be more open to one another and to the public.

“It was just another lie,” Yow said.

“It never started. The question is, how many lies can he tell?”

Arnold and Commissioners Carolyn Coleman, Bruce Davis, John Parks, Kirk Perkins, Mike Winstead, Paul Gibson and Kay Cashion did not return phone messages.

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