Wayne Co. Executive Evans Issues Partial Spending, Hiring Freeze
DETROIT (WWJ) -- Calling it a badly needed "first step," Wayne County Executive Warren Evans issued a freeze on non-essential spending and new hires within county government on Monday.
Evans said that the move won't do much to dent the county's deficit, but said that a freeze is needed as a long-term plan is developed.
"This is not going to get us out of our deficit, this is going to help us as a first step to let everybody understand the seriousness of it and to put some restrictions in place so at least we're not elevating spending and we are reducing it some," Evans said.
Last month, Evans put Wayne County's current budget and pension funding shortfall at $70 million. He says work is already underway on a long-term deficit reduction plan before the county is set to run out of money next year.
"Hiring for positions that aren't critical, we certainly have to deal with," Evans said. "No pay raises other than those that are a part of a collective bargaining agreement -- just a number of things that are important for us to help contain costs."
Evans said that the freeze only applies to the executive branch of government, but without serious restructuring around the county, it could run out of money by August 2016.
"There will be so many more steps after this," Evans said. "This is just a beginning."
