Fremont County planning to require 10 percent budget cuts from department heads

(Lander, WY) – The budget memo that Fremont County officials are preparing to send out to local department heads this month currently includes a requirement to cut agency costs by 10 percent for the coming fiscal year.

“We think that is the amount that we are going to need,” Fremont County Clerk Julie Freese told the Fremont County Commission during a meeting this week. “(We’ll) see what we need to do after that.”

Vacant positions

If department heads decide to leave vacant positions open, those cost savings will count toward their 10 percent cuts, Freese said.

Previously, she reported that the county could save about $1.3 million by keeping currently vacant positions open – including two in the library department, six in the sheriff’s department, six in the detention center, two in the road department, and one in the clerk’s office.

Those department heads don’t plan to keep all of their vacant positions open, however, Freese said this week, revising her estimate to “maybe $600,000” in vacant positions that could be left unfilled next year.

The budget message Freese is preparing maintains the county’s current wage and hiring freeze, which requires department heads to request permission from the Commission if they want to “rehire” or “increase your dollar amounts for your employees.”

New fees

The budget memo also asks department heads to “look at (their) revenue streams,” Freese said, predicting that “there may be some of us that are going to implement new fees.”

“The sheriff mentioned a couple, (and) I know I have some,” Freese said, noting that it might “cost a little bit” of money to implement those new fee systems.

For example, Freese said her office would need “like $10,000 (to get) online records ready for people to pay for” and to “change our credit card program” to accommodate the change.

The Commission plans to meet with individual department heads beginning in May to discuss next year’s budget.