January 5, 2009
Fosters
DOVER — County commissioners this morning will unveil a budget featuring only a 2.85 percent tax increase from last year, but it doesn’t come without a cost — 40 full-time county employees were laid off Friday, County Commission Chair George Maglaras confirmed Sunday.
A breakdown of the layoffs and the total savings resulting from the layoffs is to be available this morning. Maglaras said the layoffs were “across the board” and affected management, union and non-union employees.
Commissioners previously have said that passing a budget without changes in how the county operates likely would have resulted in a 12 percent county tax rate increase.
The proposed budget features $51,168,307 in operating expenditures, funded by revenues of $25,049,561 and a proposed $26,118,746 in taxes, representing a tax increase of 2.85 percent from last year.
The county also will cease funding several programs it has provided partial funding to for several years, including the Strafford County Cooperative Extension, Cocheco Valley Humane Society and Soil Conservation District.
Maglaras said the county still would provide these programs with space in the county complex for free. He added that funding from the county only represented a small percentage of these programs’ operating budgets.
“We shrunk county operations to the core services the county is required to fund by statute,” Maglaras said.
Funding also has been cut to all contracted social service agencies, including Strafford County Community Action, Avis Goodwin Community Health Center, Southeastern New Hampshire Services Corporation, Strafford County Meals on Wheels, Great Bay Services, Strafford County Child Care Association, A Safe Place, Seacoast Hospice, Community Partners, Your VNA Hospice, Dover Adult Learning Center of Strafford County and Homemakers Health Services.
“All have funding from the state and federal government; the county only represents a small portion of what they received,” he said.
Maglaras said challenges facing the county this year included a $1.6 million revenue reduction, $600,000 of which came from Gov. John Lynch’s state budget cut, and much of which also stemmed from tax caps put in place by the cities of Dover and Rochester, which combined pay nearly half the county tax.
“We couldn’t continue to do business the way we were. We had to change things,” Maglaras said.
More details about the budget are to be released at a 10 a.m. commissioner’s meeting today at the county complex. The proposed budget is scheduled for a public hearing on Jan. 15.