County prepares for 5 percent budget cuts.
Hard times are hitting the once-booming Asheville/Buncombe area:
“In August, when we were facing increased fuel costs and caseloads, we asked departments to ready for 3 percent cuts. That was mostly done through frozen positions, positions that were already vacated or becoming vacant,” Greene said. “But times aren’t getting any easier — caseloads are still going up — so we’ve asked for 5 percent cuts. We’ve gone to every department and asked them to tell us what they can do, what they’ll have to do cut things down to that 5 percent level.”
Reports on potential cuts will be done on Jan. 15, Greene said, and then considered by the Board of Commissioners as it crafts the next fiscal year’s budget at a retreat in late April.
“We’ll be coming to them [the board] with what it takes to do our core services, and asking how we can continue to do our elective services — and why we should continue to do them,” Greene said.
Core services are what the county is required to provide by law, and Greene noted that “we’re committed to keeping the same level of quality.”
But what are technically “elective” services covers a wide range of items as well.
“We don’t have to do animal control, we don’t have to run an animal shelter, we don’t have to have a childcare center,” she said, listing some elective services. “We’ll be evaluating if some of those services could be contracted out.”
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