Prosecutor, assessor and other departments propose targeted hires and temporary freezes to ease FY27 shortfall

The county's elected offices and departments brought a series of personnel requests and proposed offsets aimed at trimming the FY27 deficit. The prosecutor (identified as Stan in the meeting) asked to add a part-time intern at a loaded cost of about $77,000 and to pursue matrix/matrix and reclassification adjustments for civil and criminal attorneys. Stan said his office could produce roughly $259,000 in salary savings by converting a civil legal assistant to part-time, freezing a vacant criminal legal assistant and potentially freezing a vacant attorney position, but he emphasized that pay remains below market for attorneys and warned that pay shortfalls drive departures.

The assessor's office presented options to convert several open appraiser positions to lower classifications and to prorate requested promotions, describing roughly $115,000 in near-term reductions and up to a larger total if additional appraiser adjustments are made. Community Development requested several reclassifications and a freeze of a part-time planner position that collectively netted about $23,000 in savings; district court clerk conversions and freezes netted about $76,000 in savings overall. IT requested a small increase to overtime tied to 24/7 support of sheriff functions (loaded cost ~$5,994), which staff said they would track against the sheriff's support needs.

Commissioners asked staff to provide effective dates and prorated costs for promotions and reclassifications so budget impact could be adjusted to actual timing. The board approved many of the changes subject to proration and asked staff to carry forward the savings assumptions into the draft FY27 budget while keeping some items (notably certain reclassifications) open for HR review.