First the Arizona housing market crashed. Then governments across the Valley were forced to wave goodbye to many of their building inspectors and planners.

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Pinal County officials, however, say they will be able to hang on to their inspectors, engineers and planners despite the uncertain economic times.

That bucks a trend among governments in the area. Queen Creek decided a few weeks ago to drop 25 percent of its building staff to help save the town an expected $4.6 million. In February, Mesa cut 35 employees from the building safety division, in response to the steep decline in the housing and commercial markets.

Queen Creek went from 1,200 building permits in its 2005-06 budget year to what’s expected to be 250 this year “if we’re lucky,” said Patrick Flynn, assistant town manager. That’s nearly an 80 percent decrease.

“The issue was they would have nothing to do. Their jobs were to check plans, process building permits and do all the inspections that occur,” Flynn said. “If the permits aren’t there, there’s no work.”

Pinal County officials, meanwhile, say that there are no planned cuts to their building staff, despite a $13 million deficit projected in the 2007-08 budget year, which ends June 30.

However, the county’s residential and other building permits will drop an estimated 19 percent from last year and 48 percent from two years ago, according to the county’s figures.

County officials say they need the same 33 inspectors they have employed for the last year. Eleven positions have been frozen in the department as inspectors have left.

“We’re doing good with them,” said Steve Brown, director of building safety. “We’re hoping that we will keep them busy.”

That hope is not shared by regional real estate analysts who say the residential markets on the Phoenix metropolitan area’s “fringes,” like Pinal County, will continue to be hit the hardest by the housing decline.

Many who purchased houses in areas like Johnson Ranch, the San Tan area and Copper Basin were entry-level buyers who came into the market when mortgage-lending standards were “extremely liberal,” said John Fioramonti, senior managing director of Meyers Builder Advisors LLC, based in Scottsdale.

Since those lending standards have tightened considerably, many of those buyers would not be able to break into the county’s housing market, which has an oversupply of homes, an excess inventory of buildable lots and a high foreclosure rate.

“The people who would be buying out there are the people who won’t be getting loans out there,” he said.

Pinal County has been experiencing an uptick in the commercial permits for shopping centers and other businesses that typically follows a booming population. The county is the third-fastest-growing in the nation.

However, the typical flood of commercial development that follows a residential boom 18 months to three years after it occurs could be stymied in Pinal County by the same financing problems in the residential market, Fioramonti said.

Traditional commercial financing is scarce, and a secondary market with higher interest rates is taking its place.

“I will predict a decrease in commercial product in Pinal County,” Fioramonti said.

“If it were a normal market, then you would find the commercial boom continuing to ... follow the rooftops — but it’s been stunted by commercial financing,” he said.

Pinal County officials devised a plan in March to stave off the budget crunch. It doesn’t include layoffs.

A freeze on hiring was ordered for 180 days, overtime was halted as of April, a delay in “nonessential” capital projects was implemented and tapping the county’s reserves is on the table.

Ken Buchanan, assistant county manager, said he didn’t know which of the building projects have been delayed.

However, he said the county puts a premium on its planners, engineers and administrators to plan for the next explosion of growth in the county.

“We need everyone we have,” he said. “We’re trying to get ready for the next growth phase.”