How buyouts may hit county residents

VIGO CO, Ind. (WTHI) - County budget cuts are hitting home, as well as sending some county employees home for good.

Twenty Vigo County employees will work for the last time on Friday after accepting a buyout. Remaining employees will do more with less and residents may notice the difference.

"I was totally devastated," said Vigo County Assessor Debbie Lewis. "It was like, 'how am i going to deal with this?"

Lewis found out Tuesday night she would be losing an employee at the end of the week. While this is tough for her to deal with, it could also affect county residents.

The position being lost is sales disclosure deputy. Lewis said this job won't be easily filled by already over-worked staff members and may mean later tax bills for county residents.

"It just means their taxes will be later coming out," said Lewis. "Eventually we'll get the data, but will it be submitted in the summer when we need to get it submitted?"

The county will also lose six custodial and maintenance staff members. Starting Monday, there will be eight people working in a department that had 18 as little as two years ago.

County Commissioner Judy Anderson said she won't allow any difference to be shown to the general public. Even with a staff cut of more than 50 percent, Anderson said the department was not bloated before.

She said some missing positions have been filled with part-time help and the commissioners may look to out-source some of the work.

But the latest buyouts could mean wastebaskets get emptied a little less frequently and the grass outside grows a little longer before it's cut.

"Is that hurting anybody?" asked Anderson. "No. It's just the way we're going to cope."

Coping is happening for a total of seven county departments.

The Clerk's Office and Maintenance departments are losing the most employees with six each. Three buyouts are from the Sheriff's Office, though none of these are deputies. Two are coming from the Health department. Area planning, the assessor and information technology are losing one employee each.

It is up to the county council to decide if many employees will be replaced.