Camden County proposed furloughs could reduce budget gap
Friday, April 23, 2010
Dear Neighbor,
Yesterday, Camden County government announced a proposed furlough program for all non-public safety county employees beginning in July and continuing through the end of the year.
We regret having to take this step, and hope we can manage with fewer than 14 furlough days, but the tough economic times, cuts in state funding, decreased revenues and fees and increased costs (a $5 million increase in employee benefits costs alone) have created a $24 million budget gap. We have a variety of options for dealing with this gap, but we can’t do it without tough measures and a shared burden of sacrifice. We have a great tradition of finding ways to save money, through reducing the workforce by 600 jobs over the past five years, using a Transformation Initiative to cut costs and share services within the county and with municipalities, and negotiating with our labor unions to get employees to pay a portion of their benefits costs.
We always see our primary functions as delivering services to constituents and protecting taxpayers. We need to make tough choices now for the 2010 budget and looking ahead to the 2011 budget, which will be even tougher. We want to protect taxpayers, but we also want a shared burden for employees, with elected officials and management sharing in the sacrifice through furloughs. These furloughs will save more than $1.5 million and, as importantly, will prevent 200 layoffs, which is what it would take, at mid-year, to achieve this kind of cost savings.
We will be sharing more information as we prepare to present the 2010 budget in May. To be fully informed, visit our website at www.camdencounty.com, or sign up for our email blasts to receive updates.
We believe it’s important for you to know not only what we’re doing, but why we’re doing it. We know this year will be a tough challenge, but we look forward to getting through it together.
Louis Cappelli Jr.
Freeholder Director
