In preparation for presenting the proposed 2010 fiscal budget to the County Council, County Executive David Craig has recently sent a letter to county employees – foretelling the impact of the budget on their jobs and, presumably, softening the blow of an announced five-day furlough, spending uniform allowances, and adjusting work schedules to decrease overtime pay.
These likely unpopular changes were explained as being necessary to prevent layoffs, something other counties in Maryland are beginning to resort to.
Craig seemingly made it a priority to protect county employees from losing their jobs, citing the economy as a reason the county needed to take hits to protect its own workers.
“In a bad year like this, it is my committment to do everything I can to keep each of you employed,” Craig wrote.
“Knowing how hard it will be for any displaced employee to find a new job in this economy, I cannot accept layoffs as a measure of first resort. That may cause me to make choices that are unpopular, but in the end if it saves one job – it will have been worth it,” he continued.
The full text of the letter is below:
The letter also gives some insight into the upcoming budget, which the Craig boasts is $74 million less than the 2009 budget. Typically, a “decrease” in politics means that the budget grows at less than the rate of inflation, making a true decrease a rare accomplishment.
The federal budget has ballooned this century, increasing each year at a rate greater than whole decades in the past. The state budget has likewise grown greater than the rate of inflation. Overestimating revenue and underestimating costs has led to even higher deficits, and citizen spending watch groups often predict numbers very different from those of the executive department.
A decrease in spending in Harford would be especially exceptional given the increased burden the state is placing on counties, withdrawing state funding support for teacher pensions and passing on other costs to the county to try to balance the state budget. It is likely that such anticipated but unannounced expenses have caused the County Executive to further decrease the proposed budget.
The County Executive must annually prepare a budget for the following year. The budget is sent for a vote to the Council in April, where items can be removed or amounts amended.
God Bless the man! Doing more and spending less! He’s a true Republican!
Sounds like a Democrat. if they would get out from behind there desk and take a survey they could find a Lot of Fat to trim.
Harford County needs to do what some other counties are doing–eliminating positions that aren’t filled and doing away with positions that are unnecessary. The county did fine for many years without a Chief of Staff. Now Craig has hired his buddy Aaron Tomarchio who is making close to $100,000 a year. For what? I have no idea what a Chief of Staff does and he probably doesn’t know either. The salaries of the people in the executive branch of the county government are outrageously steep and most of them did nothing to earn it as they were handpicked friends of the county exec. I was told that the county was telling employees with take home cars not to use them for anything other than for county business. You all know how that is going as I’m sure you have noticed the police cars and cars with county logos at the Mall, the movies, restaurants, etc. They need to have the people drive their own personal vehicles into work and pick their county vehicle up then. The waste is just overwhelming and because of that, they are going to start furloughing the poor working class dogs who just put in their 40 hours a week for the county, while the fat cats rake more in. Just like the U.S. but on a smaller scale. God help us all.
With all due respect, can we forget the partisan B.S. This is a fiscal issue that is totally non-partisan. I have been employed by Harford County for going on 20 years, and as an elected official, I know what it’s like to be part of a budget producing entity. As most people know, I’m a Democrat….and the County Executive is a Republican…. but as David Craig said (and I agree), this decision may be “unpopular” with some employees, but it sure beats the alternative! It’s easy to assume that there’s “fat to trim” from any budget, but when you get to the point of diminishing returns (I.E. goods or services being affected), then what have you accomplished? Fiscal responsibility is not a Republican OR a Democrat virtue, it is truely a responsibility that some understand, and others don’t. So…..my advise to my fellow “furlough-ees”….Make the best of your days off. Spend some time with your family. Get some of those “honey-do’s” completed. But whatever you do, be thankful that you are employed (I know I am).
One way the County can save some money and maybe not furlough some of the jobs would be to make the sheriffs department deputies turn their cars off when they are not driving them. I witnessed a patrol car sitting at one of the hospitals idling in the parking lot for three hours the other night, while the deputy was in the emergency room waiting room.
noname to much electronics….batt would be dead. Computers…radios…ect.
GD!