Salem County to Layoff 22

Job cuts are coming to workers in Salem County, New Jersey, as county workers are being cut back in order to make ends meet. The cuts, which were recently approved by the  Salem County Board of Chosen Freeholders as part of the county’s 2012 budget, are expected to impact 12 different departments, according to a list released by the Freeholders.

Though this current version is only a draft it gives a solid idea of where the cuts may come from. In the 2012 budget the county is going to get rid of 22 workers, and then they are going to downgrade two workers from their full-time status to a part-time status. These cuts were made in order to help to cut back on about  $574,000, which the county needs in order to make ends meet. These are not the only changes that need to be made. The county is also exploring several other budget-cutting initiatives in order to make up for its shortfall.

Right now the breakdown of layoffs looks something like this:

Bus Service-2

The Rutgers Cooperative Extension-1

Salem County Corrections-1

Engineering-1

Facilities Management -9

Information Technology-1

Mosquito Control-2

Public Information Office-1

Public Health-1

Bridges and Roads-2

Superintendent of Schools-1.

As other towns and counties in New Jersey have has to cut back on their budgets in order to make ends meet they have a seen a significant set of problems develop. For those of you who missed out on our earlier coverage here is an excerpt that shows how bad things can be when cuts are made in the wrong places:

“An interesting post-layoff trend has been emerging in several different police departments in the Garden State recently. The departments in question have been cited by experts who have noticed a trend in fewer arrests for minor crimes.

While an optimist may say that maybe fewer people are simply committing small crimes, analysts are looking at it as a policing issue that crops up after the forces has been reduced to cope with budget problems. These experts think that the trend in letting more small crimes slide will lead to a larger problem with more serious crimes.

The five cities mentioned in the analysis made by the Associated Press included: Newark, Trenton, Paterson, Atlantic City and Camden. These cities all have a few things in common, besides being in New Jersey. They are all urban areas with dense populations. They are all cash strapped with little help coming from the state and federal levels to alleviate the fiscal pressure. In addition all five of these cities have made serious cuts to their police forces in 2010 in order to stay afloat.

The analysis looked at data from municipal courts. This data showed that when police officers are let go the department shifts in order to focus their new lower level of resources on serious crimes, instead of on the smaller ones. This means a drop in enforcement for minor crimes and traffic violations.”

So as we can see there are likely to be some consequences to these changes.