Jake Fulkerson

Just days after finalizing the budget for the 2019-20 fiscal year, Park County commissioners began working on the next one, hoping to slash $2 million worth of spending.

As part of that effort, commissioners have imposed a hiring freeze, requiring county officials to get their permission before filling any positions that become vacant.

At a July 16 meeting, Commission Chairman Jake Fulkerson indicated that the county may not refill some positions when they come open — and that residents could see shorter library hours or longer lines in the clerk’s office.

“We’re not just going to roll over on [approving] every position,” Fulkerson warned.

At last month’s meeting, the sheriff’s office received permission to replace three deputies and the county attorney’s office was allowed to hire a new full-time employee to replace two part-timers. However, the Park County Library System was told to compile some more information about the necessity of a full-time assistant librarian in Meeteetse.

“I don’t have a problem approving this at all,” Fulkerson as the board OK’d the county attorney’s position. “But man, some of these other staffing requests that come before us, it’s going to be a rough six months. It’s not going to be a fun time to be a county commissioner.”

Commissioner Joe Tilden has said that, of the nine county budgets he’s helped put together, the nearly $28 million one he approved last month was the toughest. That’s in part because the county spent more and received less money than expected in the prior budget year and had a couple expensive items pop up; that included suddenly needing to build a new facility for the county coroner in Cody, estimated to cost $460,000.

“We were blindsided by a lot of stuff,” Tilden said last month.

He and other commissioners have said the budget they ultimately approved as it was balanced in part by delaying road maintenance and drawing $1.2 million from reserves. That’s why they created a committee to find $2 million worth of savings over the coming months; the group met for the first time last month.

At the July 16 meeting, commissioners did approve a couple measures that could add $23,000 to this year’s budget, which runs through June 30, 2020.

In one decision, the board agreed to spend $10,000 on a study of possible new walking and biking routes in the Powell area (conditioned on the Wyoming Department of Transportation providing another $40,000).

Commissioners also allowed Park County Attorney Bryan Skoric to convert two part-time office positions into one full-time job. If that new hire has a family and decides to place them on the county’s health insurance plan, the change could cost the county about $13,000 extra, said Clerk Colleen Renner. However, if only the new hire goes on the plan, the county would save a couple thousand dollars.

Commissioner Lloyd Thiel questioned whether Skoric would be getting the same “bang for your buck” with one position instead of two; Thiel noted the change would mean a net loss of manhours.

Skoric, however, said he preferred to hire a full-time person.

“It’s not that part-time people are unqualified, but it seems like ... they’re always looking for the full-time position,” Skoric said, saying an excellent part-time worker recently left for a full-time job elsewhere.

After commissioners approved Skoric’s request and Sheriff Scott Steward’s request to replace three deputies, Commission Chairman Fulkerson suggested the two law enforcement agencies were a little different from other county departments.

“The safety is paramount,” Fulkerson said, adding that “there’s no fluff” in the sheriff’s or county attorney’s offices.

But commissioners wanted some more information before acting on a request from Park County Library Director Frances Clymer to replace a full-time assistant librarian at the Meeteetse branch.

“We would have to cut hours and we would have to cut services if we could not replace that person,” Clymer said. “That’s the bottom line.”

Fulkerson asked her to come back with more information about possible options, including switching the position to part-time. He said commissioners are “going to be having a lot of these conversations.”

“To come up with $2 million, it’s got to give somewhere,” Fulkerson said.

Commissioners are set to decide the fate of that position at their meeting today (Tuesday) while also considering requests to replace a deputy county attorney and a part-time cook in the Cody jail.