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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 1982)
Tightrope Lane budget balances on unstable highwire By Steve Hooks Of Ihe Emerald If misery loves company, as the old addage goes, Lane County and the University should be best friends The county, like the University, faces a serious financial crunch Before they balance the bud get, county officials expect to add more cuts and layoffs to a casualty list begun in July Basically, it means things won't get done,'' says Scott Lieuallen. county commis sioner A first-time visitor entering the Lane County Public Services Building won't get help from the information desk That has been "closed due to budget cuts." the sign says Others may be surprised to find the building shut tight on Fridays A four-day work week for county employees, another result of budget cuts, has been in effect since July However, those who have business at the county courthouse will usually be served on Fridays. County employees will also have to make do with fewer on the-job services "People vacuum their own offices now,” Lieuallen says But reductions in cleaning crews are only symptomatic of r the greater problem On the advice of a special task force, the commissioners trimmed an additional $132,000 in September from the budgets of the general services and in formation systems department and community health and social services department The money-saving measures eliminated or combined about nine management and secre tarial jobs in those departments, according to a county memor andum The GSIS cuts mean county records, especially elections records, will take longer to process, says Steven Ickes. di rector of GSIS To bear its $89,000 share of the cuts, GSIS laid off a man ager and an executive secretary and eliminated two vacant man agerial and clerical positions, Ickes says The CHSS share of the bur den is $43,000 CHSS eliminat ed another vacant position from its job roster, says Janet Chapell, director Further vacancies may be eliminated or combined, she says We re kind of torn between keeping things solid and moving and the need to save money,” Chapell says ‘‘The public probably doesn't see a direct impact right away (because of ’We've just been trying to get the damn (budget) balanced, services for the county Photo by Dave Kao says Steve Ickes. director of general the cuts) But it makes things harder to do.” she says Like the other county depart ments. CHSS endured the direct impact of the earlier cuts and layoffs in July The public health division of the CHSS saw $800,000 pared from its budget, Chapell says The department has also lost grant money since then, she adds "We had a (senior citizen medical) screening program that was really popular That was eliminated We reduced family planning by about one third." Chapell says. Cuts also pinched the flu shot program. "This year, we re only going to give them to seniors," Chapell says These county health services, like many other county pro grams, were shelved July 1 The commissioners started the fis cal year by slicing and dicing various agencies so the county could meet a scaled-down bud get of $31 million After voters rejected the county's May request to in crease the property tax base by $10 million, officials put into action the contingency budget that required the drastic cuts But during the summer, voters approved a special tax levy for county law enforce ment Officials also learned that revenue from federal timber lands will yield the county $5.7 million. Despite the relief, budget cutting measures have cost the county “a couple of hundred people in terms of layoffs," says Jim Phelps, finance and man agement director The county also must find $468,000 more to balance this year's budget and $9 million to balance next year's budget, Ickes says. “That $9 million is not on us now, but is facing us squarely," he says. “We are planning a policy retreat to try to develop some clearer priorities for the 1983-84 budget." The retreat is planned for December, in time for the arrival of the new county administrator, Ickes says. Photo by Dave Kao Vance Freeman and Peter DeFazio, candidates for a Lane County Commission position, debated over mostly econ omic issues, in Springfield, Tuesday night. Debate focuses on economics By David Brown Ot th* Enwrald Resuming county services five days a week, while maintaining reduced em ployee hours, was one idea advanced at the debate which brought together the candidates for Springield's District 2 seat on the Lane County Board of Commissioners. Challenger Peter DeFazio criticized the current policy which closes the Public Service Building on Fridays. Incumbent Vance Freeman argued that employees commuting five days per week would cost those employees money on top of what was already lost through cuts in payroll and hours The debate focused mainly on the county’s economic issues. "I feel very strongly that the county should undertake economic develop ment efforts’’ utilizing existing staff, said DeFazio, an aide to U S. Rep. Jim Weaver, D-Ore. “I have a little problem with starting up another agency when we re already short people,” responded Freeman, former Springfield mayor and city councilor He told the 50-menber audience he favored creating jobs through reducing impediments in land-use planning to business development Freeman’s experience as a commissioner and budget committee member leads him to believe the county must live with it's existing budget. “We are on a no new revenue policy," he said. “I’d like to take a more active role in the budget committee,” DeFazio said. Last year, when faced with budget deficit, the county commission simply put out a new tax levy and went home, he said The county should scrutinize depart mental spending, DeFazio said And ground-level county employees should have more say in cost savings, he said “The people who do the work from day to day have many of the best ideas about cost savings,” he said. Freeman contended the county does recognize such suggestions and has acted on them. But "we don't have the funds to contribute” to programs ex panding on that resource, he said. To trim monetary waste, DeFazio suggested depositing county funds in local banks, making more money available for loans to local businesses "We do not have any surplus funds," and strong restrictions dictate the han dling of county revenue, replied Freeman. Depositing the money in two Portland banks eliminates the problem of "keeping a trail" on the money, he said. Faculty campaigners request student aid to hand out leaflets "Save Oregon — No on 6," a recently organized faculty group campaigning against Ballot Measure 6, is requesting help from interested students in dis tributing leaflets Saturday, according to Dorothy Anderson, committee chairper son The measure, if passed, would abolish all statewide land use planning laws and eliminate the Land Conservation and Development Commission. Anderson, former land use planning chairperson for the League of Women Voters, says the leaflet distribution is part of a series of events including radio, television, and newspaper ads designed to block the passage of measure 6 She says about 75 to 80 people, in cluding members of the Audobon Socie ty, Sierra Club, League of Women Voters and local land use planners, will be dis tributing information door to door. Volunteers can pick up leaflets for distribution between 9:30 a m. and 10:30 a m at two locations. Students living close to campus can pick the leaflets up at the Survival Center in the EMU. The other location is Ander son’s house, 939 E. 21st St Anderson, who participated in leaflet distribution against similar ballot mea sures in 1976 and 1978, says it is a suc cessful campaign method because "it's one way that you're sure of getting a broad scope of information to a lot of people." She says "a lot of people like that personal touch. They think, Oh, you care that much.' " According to Jan Flaherty, assistant director of the campus Survival Center and treasurer of “Save Oregon — No on 6," about 20 students have volunteered to help. Flaherty says, "The people I've talked to are really interested. I want to get at least 35. The more the better." For more information call Flaherty at 686-4356 or Anderson at 345-2820.
