County workers bracing for cuts.

Byline: Matt Cooper The Register-Guard

Without renewal of federal aid, Lane County will begin chopping away jobs by June 6 at the latest, with the firings likely extending into the fall, a county personnel manager said Wednesday, following voters' overwhelming rejection of an income tax in Tuesday's election.

County government expects to pare away about 250 of its 1,535 jobs, with some pink slips going out in early June to lay off workers effective July 1.

Tuesday's vote and the prospect of layoffs left many county workers subdued and grim Wednesday.

The uncertainty of the county jobs outlook is likely to undermine county efforts to attract talented applicants for jobs that can be filled, workers said.

"It's going to be really hard to get highly qualified, motivated people to come to work here," said Brad Carpenter, a systems analyst. "Last in, first out."

Lane and other rural counties across Oregon put money measures on Tuesday's ballot to replace a possible loss of tens of millions of dollars in annual federal timber payments money. With voters largely rejecting those measures, the counties must make major cuts for budgets submitted to the state by July 1.

In Lane County, 84,839 voters - or 44.4 percent of registered voters - cast ballots. The vote on the 1.1 percent income tax was 59,451 - or 71.1 percent - against, and 24,158 for.

The county will issue layoff notices upon word that the federal government won't renew $47 million in annual timber aid, or June 6 if there's been no word from Washington, D.C., said Greta Utecht, human resources director.

Without federal aid, the county says it must cut about 190 positions that are funded by the general fund, and about 58 that are funded by the road fund. Those numbers could change based on direction from the county's budget committee, Utecht said.

Workers to be laid off can take a vacancy in another department; take a lower-classification job in the same department and bump a worker of less seniority; or leave the job, Utecht said.

Utecht stressed that seniority - not job classification - is the basis for job retention among all bargaining units except prosecuting attorneys.

The cuts and reorganization are likely to continue past the July 1 deadline for a new budget, Utecht said. The county will use reserves to pay workers who remain on the job but are in positions that will be cut.

In an effort to get important work done during the summer construction season, the county public works department will try to postpone layoffs until the fall by dipping into reserves, Utecht said.

Since last July, 36 people have quit the county to take other jobs, approximately three times the usual number of departures, Utecht said. The turnover is due in part to uncertainty of county job prospects, she said.

It will take the county longer to recruit for current job openings from outside the state, she added.

"It's a difficult time to think about coming to work for Lane County," Utecht said.

There was tension in the air Wednesday at the county Public Service Building in downtown Eugene as workers wondered how they'll be affected, said Carpenter, the systems analyst.

"People come in and they're worried," he said. `They just don't know what (the workforce) is going to look like.'

Mental health nurse Daisy Rothgery said many workers probably wouldn't absorb the ramifications of the vote until the day was over.

Rothgery, who works for the Lane County Mental Health Outpatient Clinic, said seniority is likely to protect her job. But staff cuts will mean bigger case loads per nurse, and more clients who get turned away, she said.

Rothgery said she voted for the tax, although she believes that the middle class is being stretched in a struggling economy. She said she's not convinced that residents fully grasp the severity of the county's fiscal dilemma.

"I don't think the public (has enough information) to know," she said.