County considers ways to save money
By KEN BLACK, TIMES-REPUBLICANIn an attempt to deal with continuing budget woes, the Marshall County Board of Supervisors is set to consider a resolution Tuesday that would enable full-time county workers to work as few as 32 hours.
"It would be totally voluntary," said Supervisor Pat Brooks. "But if it were a slow time and they had something else they needed to be doing, this would give them that opportunity, as long as all of their work was still getting done."
Brooks envisions allowing workers to take off up to a day each week in unpaid time off. This would allow the worker some flexibility in their schedule to take care of personal and other matters, yet not use vacation time to do it.
The advantage to the county would be that there would be a reduction in payroll expenses, because some county employees would be getting paid less hours.
Marshall County Auditor Karen Squiers said she is unsure of how well the proposal would work in her office. Most of her employees keep busy and most would rather get paid for the hours they signed on to work, she said.
"I don't anticipate it would work very well for the auditor's office," she said. "Our staff is already down compared to what it has been in previous years."
The county has been looking for ways to trim money from the budget, ever since supervisors told department heads last month they needed to cut an additional 2.5 percent. Though the supervisors said cuts were made by looking at "incidentals," at least one department head noted there was some sacrifice made on the part of county employees.
"It wasn't done without any pain," said Deane Adams, currently the Marshall County treasurer who is running for supervisor. "There were some hours cut and I will pay back part of my salary."
Adams also said he did not feel the proposal for voluntary reduction of hours would work well in his office. He said his office already can be very busy, especially on certain days and certain times of the month.
The county recently approved raises for elected officials and other salaries will be finalized before the next fiscal year begins in July.
The county also approved its budget without an increase in the levy rate for county services.
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Contact Ken Black at 641-753-6611 or kblack@timesrepublican.com
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herkeye
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03-14-10 10:07 PM
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.....or just ran out of meds
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Stargazer
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03-12-10 7:34 PM
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My guess is westside works for the government.....
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westside
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03-12-10 6:06 PM
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All you people who want government employees to get staff reduced like the private sector always ***** when you have the services and ***** when you dont. You cant have it both ways. Private business is just that, private and for profit. The public employees are non profit, still have to be politicaly correct, professional and not complain or you give them a hard time. Just remember when you start losing your services and you need a Deputy or Firefighter, or you want want want want, dont start ********.
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ihavehadit
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03-12-10 3:21 PM
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When I worked at Lennox and Maytag, which were union jobs they laid off when times were bad. The lowest seniority persons went out the door first. Bite the bullet and lay off if it needs to be done. I know I have been through it personally.
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Johnny
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03-12-10 2:09 PM
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This is a no lose idea. Why not? There might be a few that take the bait.
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AverageAmerican
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03-12-10 1:33 PM
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InstantKarma' suggestion to "give them a half day's pay to not come in" is indicative of the public sector mentality... Pay us whether we work or not. Sounds like voters need to hit a reset button and instill a work ethic into a reduced number of government sponges.
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Jackdanials
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03-12-10 10:21 AM
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Another joke by local goverment to try and trick us into beleiving they are wroking on budgit issue's. Taxes will still go up and they will hold their hands up and say "We tried". A joke for sure. When us in the real world have a company crunch the mandates and decisions are figured out and handed down. It doesn't always feel good but it's for the greater of the whole. Probably this is more of the huge fear in dealing with a union. Not a suprize to anyone that the death of goverment will be a union. Thats the way greed plays out in the private sector.
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herkeye
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03-12-10 10:21 AM
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good luck...I don't anticipate anyone will want to cut their weekly pay by 20% and if they do...won't everyone want a Friday or a Monday?
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InstantKarma
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03-12-10 6:52 AM
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What did they expect these departments to say? "We never did any work on Wednesday anyway. No need to pay us." They would have better luck by giving them a half day's pay to not come in. Then we'd save half a day's pay per worker.
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AverageAmerican
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03-12-10 6:46 AM
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Government workers ALWAYS say their offices are busy. Compared to the private sector they do not know the meaning of the word. Why don't they do what businesses are forced to do---lay off half their staff and cut salaries 50% for the remaining "lucky ones". Might even engender a respect for taxpayers money...
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