| OUCH! Tough times in the Birmingham area as the County Commission cuts budgets, staff, and services - in a big way. The Jefferson County Commission on Tuesday launched its third round of budget cuts since April, slashing departmental budgets by 33 percent, a move that will require hundreds of layoffs countywide. The $31.7 million reduction is in addition to the steps taken two weeks ago that ended road maintenance contracts in all cities, switched most county employees to 32-hour workweeks and set closing dates for all satellite courthouses as the county scrambles to balance the books for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The commission cut budgets by $21.7 million in April.
It sounds like a county version of California's financial crisis: The move comes as the county's reserve fund steadily declines amid predictions that the county would run out of cash by the end of July.
I haven't followed this story closely this spring, so it shocked me to read about how dire the situation is in Birmingham. Shelia Smoot is a member of the Jefferson County Commission, and I wonder if this will have any impact on her Congressional race. I know (from looking at the server logs) that we have a lot of LIA readers in the Birmingham area. What's the scoop in Jefferson County? Is it the recession, mismanagement, the failure of the occupational tax bill, or some combination of all three? The situation sounds grim, and I feel bad for everyone affected by the job and service cuts. |
