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Workforce board faces deep federal cuts; executive director to retire, plan to subcontract with Capital Region board
Summary
The Saratoga‑Warren‑Washington workforce board reported steep federal funding cuts and proposed a transitional budget that would move the deputy director into acting director while contracting select services from the Capital Region Workforce Development Board; the committee approved the board budget.
The Warren County committee reviewed and approved the Saratoga‑Warren‑Washington Workforce Development Board’s proposed transitional budget after the board’s executive director described significant federal funding reductions and a plan to subcontract some services to the Capital Region Workforce Development Board.
Gretchen, the workforce board executive director, told the committee the board received an “18.87% cut in our adult funding, 17% cut in our dislocated worker funding, and 5% cut in our youth funding,” and said those reductions required a transitional budget. She said she will retire at the end of September and recommended the deputy director, Cassie Purcell, move into an acting director role while the board subcontracts up to 20 hours a month of consulting support from CapReg on a flat fee to test consolidation and preserve key services.
"We had been talking about consolidation and then with the budget cuts we thought that really our current budget needs to be a transitional budget," Gretchen said, adding that contracting with a larger regional board could provide economies of scale and access to grant-writing and business-development capacity the smaller board lacks.
Committee members asked about the implications for Warren County’s funding and local services. Gretchen said she did not expect the proposed consulting relationship to reduce local autonomy for core career‑center services, noting that the board would try a limited arrangement and evaluate results after roughly six months. She pointed to steps already taken to reduce overhead, including renegotiating a lease and cutting a $10,500 texting platform.
The committee approved the workforce board budget by voice vote. Members said they want continued updates as the board tests the consulting arrangement and evaluates whether further consolidation is warranted.
Next steps: the county and the workforce board will monitor performance and report back to the committee after the initial consulting period.
