More NHC cuts announced

How about this to raise money. Every one that goes to the strip clubs pays a extra one dollar to get in, this money goes straight to the county. If you buy any alcohol you pay a extra 20 percent tax on ALL alcoholic beverages this money goes to county. If you smoke you pay a extra one dollar per pack of tax this money goes to county. I you own a boat in new hanover county you pay 5 dollars per foot tax. the thoughts are endless is what I'm trying to say WHY not budget within the county's means and please if we have to let AIRLIE gardens die its a county money sucker anyway.

The entire Country is suffering. It's not only New Hanover County. As a small business owner, I too have had to lay people off and cut back hours. In my case it's not poor planning it's the lack of work period. And at the end of the day, it will cost me more to lay people off as I will be put at a higher rate for unemployment taxes, afterall the Government does not pay for that, we as HONEST tax payers do. I assure you I would'nt get a cushy job if I didn't pay $140m in taxes and the IRS would have me under the jail if they didn't take all I own away first. Ask Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden why they felt the need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to take 2 yes 2 Jets to Colorado to sign a spending bill that will do nothing for the American people as a whole. You might see 13.00 in your check. Ask the Congress and Senate why did they and their staffers take a retreat to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars rather than reading the hundreds of pages of this no good spending bill, how do they know what's in it. If you think it will pay your mortgage, think again, if you think it will pay your light bill think again. People who believe in this are dead wrong. Mr. Obama's SCARE tactics worked, he and his Democrats will further enjoy spending while we hard working people will suffer and worry how will we make it through . This mess will cost generations to come. To those of you that put Mr. Obama in office, Thank You. Have you received your check yet??? I bet not.

1. You lead from the front. If the newest, lowest-paid county employee is going to face a five-day unpaid leave, every single county employee should face that same requirement. County (and city) managers may have a contracted salary that technically exempts them, but if they have any concept of leadership and integrity, they, too, will give back five days' salary. 2. One would hope that the county has eliminated ALL discretionary, unessential, and "nice-guy" spending before they mandate unpaid time off. For example, are we still funding the soccer league? What can we "do without" for a year? Now, so as not to disappoint you people who think I'm a cold-hearted S.O.B..... 3. Sheriff, fire, and EMS can ALL survive quite well without any lapse in servive due to this mandate. It's TWO-PERCENT of the work-year, and if properly scheduled will have no more effect than an employee calling in sick one day. or taking a week's vacation. 4. If losing two-percent of your pay poses a financial hardship upon you, you had better sit down and figure out what you're doing wrong, because your life is a financial mess. Unlike Washington, we can't simply print more money, and have to tighten the belt. My bet, however, is that there's a LOT more fat that could be trimmed before anyone has to take time off. Perhaps we might consider selling Airlie Gardens and free that red-ink-albatross from our necks? Sure, the gardens are beautiful, but so are a new Lamborghini and a six-foot tall platinum-blonde model/girlfriend. All three, however, might not be the smartest way to spend our money right now...

Mr. Shell, although I commend you for taking your 5-days without pay, but seriously, making in excess of $165,000 - is it going to make a difference? Let me help you ... No! It's not, you'll never miss it like the many county employees are are living paycheck to paycheck. Those are the employees, the families, the kids you're taking that money from. I certainly agree that cuts have to be made in order to maintain a balanced budget but making such a decision for drastic cuts across the board to affect EVERY county employee displays a lack of knowledge when it comes to what services county government provides and how that affects the many tax paying citizens of the county. No county employee would probaly volunteer to take such a cut but some services are easier cut that others. Public Service to include 911 / Fire & Law Enforcement aren't the services that can afford to be cut. It's absolutely ridiculous that these services are being cut in the same manner of other county services. As a citizen of this fine county it would seem logical that cuts be made without endangering the lives and property of this county. I mean, we turned our back on the Tax Administrator (who's not solely at fault) but did't help our current situation. No where in this budget assistance program have I seen where we're taking money from the contingency fund?? Just something to ponder.

These people should not have their hours cut. They are undermanned now. What would happen if there were a catastrophy such as a plane crash, hurricane, terrorist attack?? Our first responders cannot do their job in a timely manner with the cuts being made. Has everyone forgotten 911? We have gone back to the pre-911 mentality. Does anyone remember NYFD and other First Responders being hauled before Congress and questioned for days about "what went wrong"..."why didn't they respond sooner"..."why weren't they prepared"?? I wonder if Presidenet Obama would be held to the same level of accountability as President Bush should something happen and our First Responders were unable to perform their jobs because of these cuts?

Don't take a whole day off (unless you are forced to) but take off 3 hours a week. From now (Feb 17) there are 15 weeks until June. That will put you with more than the required 40 hours off without that much of a weekly impact. Just think, make it a long lunch three times a week, leave early on Friday.

First off I'd like to say Thank You to the citizens of New Hanover County who support your local emergency service workers. It's people like you who keep us motivated to do our job well. Secondly, I understand that there are steps that need to be taken to save money in an economic shortfall that NH County faces (thank you too Mr. Tax Man). However, the solution that your County Commissioners have created includes limiting the public's right to vital and essential emergency public service. Forcing an already short-handed staff to take additional non-paid days off doesn’t benefit the public in any way. Citizens of this county depend greatly on emergency services (EMS, 911, Sheriffs, Fire) to give it their all when called upon and deserve nothing but the best service possible. Think about it this way… think about a time when you (the public) needed EMS, a Sheriff, a Fireman, or even called 911 for help of some kind? Were you frustrated with the service? If not, you will be now and if you were frustrated then it’ll only get worse. Emergency service is not a bargaining tool and there’s no room for negotiating when it comes to saving lives. No person in emergency services is doing it for the money or the glamour… they do it because they genuinely care about helping people and dedicate their life to it. Is human life negotiable? It apparently is to your County Commissioners and to your County Manager / Managing Team. The public can trust that I know what I speak of because I am one of the all-encompassing NH County employees who received that dreaded white sheet of paper that said we will be forced to take off 40 hours of work and will not be paid for it in any way… not even with earned vacation time. Speaking of vacation, NH employees will not be able to earn any vacation time until at least July ’09. For much of NH employees that is an additional 22-25 hours that is being raped from them and their families with NO plan of reimbursement whatsoever. In spite of the forced time off and the extremely limited service that the citizens of this county will be getting from now until who-knows-when, I vow to continue serving the New Hanover County family of citizens with vigor and superiority to the best of my now-restricted ability. Oh… one last thing. I know that there will be those of you who bring up the fact that city employees may not be getting raises this year. Well FYI, your New Hanover Sheriff’s Dept. did not receive raises last year and certainly will not be getting any raises any time soon. Your county manager makes over $165,000 a year.

This is just another example of how backwards NC is.... no breaks? forcing people to take time off from their already well underpaid jobs? why don't we just legally take their health care and take all of their retirement/401K accounts and throw them in the county's general fund as well. This place makes me sick. I'm from here and can't get over how we have never learned how to treat our employees properly in this state. It's not the employees' fault the downturn happened in the economy.... These people that work for the county already make at least $20,000 below what they should in most instances.. just look at it. admin ass'ts making $20,000, sup's making $30,000, general employees still in the 20's as well? What is wrong with this place? NC as a state should learn to pay their employees more in the first place and then maybe this whole unpaid thing would be a bit more acceptable.

As an employee and resident of NHC I have to add a comment. The bottom line is that NHS/FIRE/911 employees are essential emergency personnel. Cutting back employees from these agencys WILL put peoples lives and property in danger. The 911 center requires at a minimum 11 people to staff the center. If we lose employees either from layoffs or from furlough someone will get hurt. Can you imagine the law suits? Seek the budget cuts from non emergency agencies first. If more cuts are required consider cutting part time employees and employees who are still in training.

This is so rediculous.....for starters it is not the employees fault that the budget was done wrong so maybe the commissioners should take a pay cut to solve what they screwed up!!! Also, if you cut back the fire and 911 center you will hurt the citizens of New Hanover County. Who will take the calls for the fire, crime etc? And who will go to put out the fires and solve the crimes to make our county a better place to live? This is uncalled for and the ones responsible for this screw up should pay!!! Not our employees who run this government!!!

Regarding the short staffing and the unpaid days off. Unfortunately, when the economy is in a downturn, revenues of all types decrease. The county is bringing in less money through property taxes due to foreclosures. Due to the unemployment and decreased retail spending, the county is making less money on sales tax. Certain aspects of the budget were probably already stretched to the limit due to the high energy prices over the past couple of years. Unfortunately, and I don't work for NHC but I do have a degree in accounting and have also worked in human resources, you have one of two options. You either eliminate already existing positions, which means some people totally lose their jobs. Or else, you make cutbacks as far as hours, wages, or benefits. That way, everyone stays working albeit at a reduced income. As far as breaks are concerned for 911 workers, it is unfortunate that people in stressful positions like this do not have more respite but the labor laws of NC only require breaks for employees who are under 16 years of age. There is no legal or civil relief for this and the DOL will simply tell you to change jobs, which in many cases is not an option. If the city gives more breaks that are less than thirty minutes, they are required to pay the employee through those breaks and therefore they would consider that a loss of revenue. Many businesses use breaks instead of unpaid lunches so they can fit a set amount of shifts in a 24 hour period (12 hr shifts in this case). As far as requiring sherriffs deputies to take unpaid days off, the dept. is most likely to schedule these days on traditionally days of lower criminal activity in order to maintain full force on the weekends or other times of high activity. Although everyone is expected to sacrifice, this prevents actually laying off a number of deputies. Economic downturns can be devastating for not only individuals but also on city and state levels. It affects everyone, both directly and indirectly. The only other option to the budget shortfall would be to increase taxes and fees to make up the lost revenue. That option would not make anyone happy.

I have a couple questions/concerns. First of all, from what I am getting from this, Sheriff's deputies will have to take 5 days off without pay...meaning they will lose anywhere from $800-$1,000 in pay. Same goes for 911 operators and Fire personnel. On top of that, several of these departments are already short at certain positions and now they will even be shorter. That's great, let the lives of your citizens suffer. That sounds smart to me. My question is...are County Commissioners taing a paycut as well to help out with this problem? Are they going to be taking days off without pay to help out? Somehow I seriously doubt it....maybe WWAY could ask them.