“Now it’s a matter of pure math and economics,” he said.
The county estimates it would save between $1 million to $1.3 million if SB 5 is upheld by voters.
“That gives us the money to maintain the level of service and hire where we need people,” he said. The sheriff’s office needs five to eight more deputies and Juvenile Court is down five positions, he said.
“We can use some of that money to hire two to three deputies and two or three of the court positions,” he said. He also would like to review the salaries of other county employees, using some of the savings to lessen the impact of SB 5. Drawing on his military experience, Lohnes said he is not worried by early retirements from the sheriff’s office that might be prompted by SB5. “Our job in the military was to bring people along, to train people to replace us. I think we have some good officers ready to step up into those positions.”
And Lohnes said moving binding arbitration decisions from the current independent, third-party to local officials only makes sense.
“If it goes to arbitration now, labor will win. I don’t see anything wrong with the default being the elected officials. Those are the folks who are ultimately held responsible every four years.”
While SB 5 is not “the most perfect bill in the world” it is better than the status quo in handling the economic challenges facing the county, he said.
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