County Executive Matthew Meyer proposed $5 million in cuts to close the deficit in the New Castle County 2018 budget.
Meyer’s administration discovered shortly after taking office in January that the county faced a structural deficit that could balloon to $20 million within two years.
“When I ran for office, I promised a county government that is transparent and responsive and that we could do more with less, and my proposed Fiscal Year 2018 budget meets that goal,” Meyer said in a statement.
Where will the cuts take effect? The budget proposes a mix of options:
· An intensive hiring review of all vacant positions, including all recruiting and interviewing currently underway;
· Suspension of the policy allowing active employees to cash out unused vacation time;
· Suspension of discretionary overtime, except for Public Safety and other critical needs;
· Suspension of all out-of-state travel;
· Reduction in executive office spending, including outside contracts
The proposed operating and capital budgets total $284,013,694. It reduces the general fund capital budget by more than half from 2017 levels to $15.3 million and total capital budget spending by 30 percent to $35.4 million.
