Commissioner Donald Dixon, who voted against the measure, challenged what he said appeared to be an arbitrary date, asking, “why not 1962?”
Dixon called for a more detailed analysis from Pete Landrum, the new finance director, to identify what could be cut “based on the numbers.”
“If we do not change the way we do business, the end result will be the same,” Dixon said.
The approved measure will force department heads, some who already have submitted more than $900,000 worth of budget reductions, to cut costs further, said county Administrator Tim Williams.
Some employees already are taking 10 furlough days this year, and more may follow, Williams added, noting that the new state budget was amended to allow county governments to force furlough days on nonunion employees.
Landrum presented figures that show projected revenues are down 9.7 percent compared to last year, and are 6 percent, or $5.4 million, lower compared to the original budget this year.
If commissioners do nothing, the general fund reserve would dip below $1 million by April 2010, and the county would be headed toward fiscal emergency, in which case the state would decide cuts, Landrum said.
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