Freeholders: $2.8M Saved By Eliminating 27 Positions

A reduction of 27 positions will save the county $2.8 million in next year's budget, according to a statement released Wednesday by the Somerset County Board of Freeholders .

A public hearing on the proposed $211,067,689 budget that is $161,411 less than last year's appropriations and carries a 2.5 percent tax rate increase will be held Tuesday, April 12 at the freeholders' meeting room in the county administration building at 7 p.m.

“With the elimination of another 27 positions, we now have 149 fewer people on the county payroll than we did three years ago," Freeholder Director Robert Zaborowski said in the statement.

"By leveraging attrition and continuing our hiring freeze, we’re literally doing more with less.  And, in our effort to be even more operationally and financially efficient, we’re already looking at ways to reduce the budget again in 2012."

The 27 eliminated positions will save $2.8 million in the 2011 budget. Since 2008, a total of 149 positions have been eliminated, representing a 12 percent reduction in the workforce, according to the freeholders' statement.

"After another difficult budget process, we've developed a spending proposal that is less than the previous year's and one that features a lower total tax levy as well," said Freeholder Peter S. Palmer, finance committee chairman. "This budget balances the need to maintain essential county services with the desire to fund county programs as economically as possible. 

"The wage freeze accepted by our non-union employees and by 16 of our 19 unions is what made this budget possible," Palmer said.  "We are somewhat unique among local governments in that we have been able to reduce our headcount without having to resort to layoffs."

For more information, check out the PDFs of the budget introduction and presentation attached to this article.