By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost.com
Forcing employees to take three days off without pay could be just the beginning as Rowan County officials struggle with a projected $4.7 million budget shortfall.
County Manager Gary Page said Monday night that switching some county operations to a four-day work week will be his next recommendation if the financial picture gets worse.
The cutbacks could include libraries and parks, as well as other county offices.
The savings would come from a reduction in utilities and related costs. Employees would work four 10-hour days.
County officials are dealing with a double whammy ó declining revenues across the board and the state potentially poised to take another dip into the stream of money earmarked for counties.
On Monday, the Rowan County Board of Commissioners approved a series of cuts to cover the projected budget deficit.
The estimated gap is based in part on a projected shortfall of $2.5 million in sales tax collections and a decision by Gov. Beverly Perdue to withhold lottery dollars to help balance the state’s budget. Rowan lost $580,000.
Collection figures are reported with a three-month delay. For example, the county won’t get the figures on January sales until April 15.
By mid-April, county officials will have a better idea if shoppers spent money in January or stayed away from stores as the did in October and November.
A deal between the state and counties related to Medicaid makes an exact comparison of sales-tax revenue from 2007 to 2008 almost impossible. The state took a portion of sales-tax revenue while relieving counties of the responsibility of paying a share of Medicaid costs.
Finance Director Leslie Heidrick expected October revenue to be down 13 percent because of the Medicaid deal. Instead, tax collections decreased 28 percent in October and 30 percent in November.
If sales tax collections pick up ó and the state doesn’t withhold additional dollars ó Rowan officials could eliminate one of the non-paid leave days for county employees.
And commissioners agreed unanimously that if the economic picture improves, they will rescind their request for a return of 1 percent of the current expense money allocated to Rowan-Salisbury and Kannapolis schools. That is $345,000 out of a budget of $34.5 million.
Heidrick began a series of meetings with department directors Tuesday to explain the delay of $400,000 in purchases ranging from desks and furniture to lawn mowers.
Contact Jessie Burchette at 704-797-4254.