Gwinnett plans to cut 93 jobs from budget

Gwinnett County officials Thursday announced they will eliminate 93 positions from two county departments to save money.

The cuts are the result of the sagging economy and are intended to be the first steps in a comprehensive services and cost management review program aimed at cutting ongoing expenses by $35 million, county officials said.

The job cuts will come from Planning and Development, where 79 positions are to be eliminated, and from Water Resources, where 14 jobs have been targeted. County officials expect the projected savings will total $4.5 million in 2009 and $5.9 million the following year.

“This is one of the most difficult and painful decisions I have ever had to make,” said County Administrator Jock Connell. “It affects real people and their livelihood, and it’s hard.”

Employees within the two departments will be offered retirement incentives, Connell said.

Employees who are eligible or will be eligible to retire by the end of 2009, he said, will be offered one week’s pay for every two years of service, an additional 20 percent of sick-leave payout and an additional 20 percent of their vacation balance payout. As a final incentive, the county will waive the employee’s health care premiums for 24 months. Employees will have until Nov. 21 to decide whether to take the offer, Connell said.

This will be followed by efforts to match employees in jobs where cuts are needed to other job opportunities in county government. The third and final step will be layoffs.

Peter Frank, deputy director of business services for the Department of Water Resources, said the action will focus on eliminating the 14 positions at the Beaver Ruin wastewater treatment plant, which is scheduled to be closed at the end of the year.

Job cuts in the Department of Planning and Development, which currently has 162 positions total, will focus on posts related to building inspections, plan review and storm water inspections.

Glenn Stephens, director of planning and development, said the link between his department and the construction industry makes the need for many staffers unnecessary. Development has been on a rapid decline in Gwinnett County the past two years, Stephens said. Single-family dwelling permits have dropped more than 80 percent since 2006, according to department figures.

“We’re here for only one reason, and that’s to provide services to citizens,” Connell said. “If we’re not doing that, we have no purpose in being here. If you look at the national economy and the regional and the state economy, there’s just not a demand … for these services. And we would probably be negligent to continue to fund those services.”