Next year's forecast: Things will be twice as bad
by Yvonne Wingett - Nov. 7, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Maricopa County's gloomy economic picture worsened Thursday when economists released figures showing a $58 million shortfall this year, and almost double that for the next fiscal year.
The cause: declining revenues working in tandem with the national economic downturn.
Officials will try to balance the budget by cutting spending in most departments, dipping into emergency and contingency funds, reducing or eliminating pay raises, scaling back capital improvement projects, and probably laying off employees. Already this year, the county has eliminated staff and cut several dozen vacant positions in the Planning and Development Department because of the slower real-estate market.
"We have to downsize county government and sustain it at a lower service level for the foreseeable future, for several years," said Deputy County Manager Sandi Wilson, who oversees the county's estimated $2.2 billion budget. "The economy is not going to bounce back. We've been told it's going to be a four- to five-year recovery. We need to become more effective and efficient with less money."
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