Will County begins painful process of layoffs

The layoffs have begun.

And things don't look good.

In recent weeks, 13 workers -- 10 full-time and three part-time -- have lost their jobs with county government, said Paul Rafac, finance director.

Two full-time people were laid off in the auditor's office; four full-time jobs and one part-time job were cut in the land use department; and four full-time and two part-time workers lost their jobs in the housekeeping department of Sunny Hill Nursing Home.

"Those are only preliminary layoffs. There will be further layoffs," Rafac said Tuesday during the Will County Board's finance committee meeting.

Rafac didn't sound at all happy about the situation, and the county board members attending the meeting wore grim expressions.

Although Will County Executive Larry Walsh gave the board a balanced budget proposal in September, from the beginning of the planning process, there was a $19 million gap between revenues and expenses.

To pay the bills, $5 million from a reserve cash fund initially was earmarked for expenses in 2010. And every county department was asked to slash costs by 5 percent.

As the planning process continued, officials decided to limit the amount of reserve cash that would be used next year, and they cut the $5 million figure to $3 million. Rafac, who is savvy financial adviser, had told officials that the tough times were likely to continue, perhaps through 2011 and 2012, so local leaders decided to keep more money in the bank to pay for future potential shortfalls.

Until recently, Walsh and the board members had said repeatedly that they would do everything in their power to avoid cutting jobs. But they've apparently reached the end of the line.

The problem? The county must give the pay raises guaranteed by union contracts, for one thing.

At one point, officials had decided not to give the increases that are called "step raises," Rafac said. But union leaders refused to go along with that idea and threatened legal action. Those step raises start at 2.5 percent and go up, Rafac said.

"(Now) we are looking at cutting the budget by an additional $3 million," Rafac said Tuesday.

That means as much as $5 million more in spending might be shaved from the budget by Nov. 19, the day the board members are scheduled to take a vote on it.

"(County) departments in most cases will get less money than last year," Rafac said. "We need to be fiscally conservative ... It's a difficult time."

So the county board members are scheduled to meet around 9:45 a.m. Nov. 12 in a special meeting to discuss the 2010 budget and the latest round of necessary cuts.

The time is tentative because the session will follow the Will County Forest Preserve District's monthly meeting, and it isn't clear what time that will end.