Pinal puts hold on projects to solve budget ills

Pinal County features a lot of new looks.

Terry Doolittle, former assistant county manager, took over as the top administrator after Stan Griffis, past county manager, went to prison in 2007 for raiding county funds. The county revamped its Web site. And a raft of new public information officers has been hired to help the beleaguered bureaucracy burnish its tarnished image.

East Valley, Pinal County planners focus on jobs

However, a slowing economy is putting the brakes on some other planned changes.

A projected $60 million in Florence building projects intended to provide a face-lift for the ramshackle county seat will be put on hold until the economy comes around, Doolittle said.

The county is facing a $13 million deficit this budget year ending June 30. As a result, Doolittle said, there will not be any immediate effort to rebuild the county’s outdated office space.

“We’re looking at least a two-year cycle (of an economic downturn),” Doolittle said this week. Despite that, the county is not facing any serious layoff situations.

The county’s plans involved building new facilities and upgrading others for the county administrator, development services, public health and the county attorney, county officials said.

Employees are straining the current county campus. A newly constructed modular “village” houses risk managers, information technology workers and the county’s internal auditor.

“We’ve overgrown our space,” said Heather Murphy, the county’s new public affairs officer. “We want to bring back people under one roof.”

The county’s numerous buildings ring the center of Florence. Murphy said the county has gone “green” in some of the facilities, creating savings of $30,000 a month.

Nevertheless, none of the buildings are modern facilities. Many were built in the 1970s and reflect the town surrounding them.

From the top of Murphy’s second-floor corner office in the county’s main administrative building, one can see a lawn with a falling gazebo, wrapped in yellow tape to warn passers-by.

The old buildings are in sharp contrast to the influx of new, tan-colored suburban houses in northeast county areas such as Johnson Ranch, Gold Canyon and the Santan area.

But even in the nation’s third-fastest growing county, the housing downturn has put a dent in building permits and a priority on saving cash.

Pinal department heads are being told to come up with 5- to 10-percent budget reduction scenarios for the coming budget year, and the county has employed a half-year hiring freeze, among other measures.

However, the decision to delay a large number of capital projects, coupled with a budget reserve, is going to cushion much of the county’s anticipated loss this year, Doolittle said.

The county operates on a $475 million budget, much of that representing state and federal programs the county merely administers — like health and social service programs.

The county’s General Fund will be $34 million at the budget year’s end, county officials estimate.

The county reserve is largely the result of a sustained housing boom that began in 2002. About $9 million of the reserve will be available for the county to cover any deficits that crop up in the next two years.